


Not Your Average Fairytale

by reetthebeast18m4w3d



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV), Wynonna Earp (TV) RPF
Genre: F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romance, Sisters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-28 02:20:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30132504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reetthebeast18m4w3d/pseuds/reetthebeast18m4w3d
Summary: Nichole Haught is a thief who steals from the castle only to help the poor townsfolk (think Robin Hood). In all her years of stealing from the Castle, she has never revealed her identity to anyone, nor has she ever thought about it...until she meets the princess, Waverly Earp. Waverly has always wanted a life full of adventure and risk. Too bad her dad barely ever lets her go out. All hope seems lost until she meets this mysterious thief, not knowing whether to trust them or report them. They both feel a deeper connection between them but will the rivalry between Nichole and the king stand in their way?*My First Fanfic Ever! Starts off a bit slow but I promise it'll get good!*
Relationships: Jeremy Chetri/Robin Jett, Rosita Bustillos & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp & Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp/Doc Holliday, Xavier Dolls/Wynonna Earp
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

The castle was dark, not a light seen within any of the windows. The birds had begun to chirp, yet no sun in in sight, just the gleaming moon. It was much past midnight, yet a black figure roamed, looking up to see the time on the clock tower. 2:30. The job needed to be done by 3:00, only then would they make it home before dawn. The figure swiftly moved, running smoothly while being attentive, careful not to be seen or heard by anyone.

Nearing the castle, they looked at the large walls, the only thing keeping them from the inside of the castle. No worries, having broken in many times, the figure scaled the wall with much ease, still successfully managing to not draw too much attention to themselves. Perched at the top, they observed, seeing guards standing in every nook and cranny. Most of them on the verge of dozing off. The figure looked back at the tower. 2:45. Just then the guards began to move around. Their shift was over. Perfect. The movement allowed the figure to enter the castle grounds without being noticed. As they swiftly passed the guards they listened to the chitter chatter.

“Eyes up gentleman. Do not doze off. ” One commanded

“The Falcon should be here anytime now,” Another whispered.

Falcon. What a unique name they had granted them, the figure thought. Knowing it only brought attention to their actions and gave others hope. Nearing another group of guards Falcon overheard a young guard, possibly a beginner, explaining who Falcon was to the others, as if telling a ghost story around a campfire:

“I hear he’ll cut you right open if you ever come in his way.”

Another added, “I bet he’ll kill you anyway. No wonder he easily gets in and out of the castle. Makes sure anyone who sees him never talks again.”

Falcon rolled their eyes. What a bunch of wusses, they thought.

A short little guard fired back at the group, “Well I’d take him. Stop him right in his tracks. And if he ever tried to lay a hand on the princess, I’d be there to save her. The king would reward me and I’d win her heart.”

The princess, Falcon thought. In all their years coming in and out of the castle, not once had they laid eyes on the princess. They had no interest. There was just one goal. Get the gold and get out alive. There was no time for meeting new people who could potentially harm them.

Lost in thought Falcon barley realized they reached the ground below the window they were targeting. They had not been in this room yet, seeing how there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of different rooms within these castle walls. Scaling the wall and grabbing the window sill, Falcon slipped into the room without making a sound. Observing their surroundings, they noticed a figure quietly sleeping in bed. Could this be the princess they had yet to lay eyes on? Nearing the bed, they stepped on a creaky wooden board and snapped out of the trance. Focus! Get the Gold and get out.

Quietly moving back, Falcon looked around the room, failing to find anything of any value. Sighing of defeat, thinking the room was a dud, they turned to see a tilted frame on the wall. Of course! The old safe behind the painting trick. They smirked and took off the painting with ease to find, not a safe, but rather a door with a latch and a lock. Looking around for a key, They noticed something shine from the figure on the bed. It was key around their neck. Having to come close to the figure once again, the thief realized this was no princess but a large man… Shit. It was the king. Trying to calm down, knowing there were probably several guards outside this room, Falcon came close and neatly cut the string around the king’s neck that kept the key. Who uses a string to hang a key?

Turning back toward the safe, Falcon opened it, seeing hundreds of jewels, coins, and even the king's crown. Putting all the jewels and coins in their sack, knowing it was too risky to take the crown since it would cause more trouble than bring gain, they settled it on their head just to feel it. It was lighter than they imagined. Felt like a feather. Turning around to see how they looked in the mirror, Falcon accidentally pushed a goblet settled on the dresser.

*CLANG*

The king woke up with a jolt. Staring straight into Falcon’s eyes with absolute disbelief and anger rather than fear, mad at the fact that Falcon had the audacity to enter his private chambers...not that Falcon had known. Luckily for Falcon though, they were wearing their Zorro-like outfit and couldn’t be recognized by the king.

“Falcon” the king mumbled under his breath before screaming for his guards. Within seconds, dozens of guards rampaged into his room, holding their swords up, as if ready to battle an army. Falcon couldn’t help but smile seeing the ruckus they had caused. Quickly grabbing the sack of goodies, they ran to the window sill and perched on like a bird, still wearing the crown. Giving a swift little smile, they threw the crown in the face of the closest guard, gave a salute, and fell back right out of the window.

The kings and guards, running towards the window, knowing Falcon couldn’t have possibly survived a fall like that, were left in awe as Falcon pulled a string and released two wings from their backpack-like cape, smoothly gliding over the castle wall and into the darkness, Hearing the king yell:

“Damn you Falcon! I’ll kill you boy! Even if it's the Last thing I do!”

"Boy", Falcon thought and smirked, mumbling to herself, “Well then lucky for me, I’m a girl.”

________________________________________

Falcon neared the forest, running in the woods to the escape horse she had left there.

“Miss me Calamity?” She asked her horse as she climbed on and sped through the trees towards home. Looking at the clock it read: 2:59. Right on time. She thought, and rode fast enough to reach home by morning.

_________________________________________

Reaching home, Falcon kept her disguise on. Calamity slowed down as they entered the small town, trotting to each and every home as they did every morning after a good heist. Falcon, getting off the horse and knocking on the door of each home waiting for it to be answered. 4:00 AM was pretty early but most of the peasants were awake by then, having to tend to their morning work.

As people opened their doors, Falcon would smile, sharing the goodies she had won from the night before. Yes, Falcon was initially like Robin Hood. She would steal from the rich (the king) once a week (never having a specific day in mind to make sure no one could trace her) and bring back whatever she could to share with the poor starving folks in the village. Sure today she got more than she expected since it was the King's room but other days it could literally be nothing, compelling her to go another time the same week so she could help the townspeople in any way.

An old woman opened one of the doors. “Oh dear Falcon, you are so kind. Come in please, I don’t have much to give you but you must have some of the bread I made this morning.”

Falcon smiled at the hospitality. “Thank you Mrs. Bustillos” she replied and took the bread to-go, having to make her rounds in time before the sun was fully up.

Everybody loved Falcon. She was sweet and kind and never asked for anything in return. Unfortunately she was never able to release her identity to them. She knew if she did it would bite her in the ass later and, though everyone was convinced she was a man, she kept it that way, it only made her safer.

After going to every door in town, she waved goodbye and rode back into the forest, hearing people clap and cheer for her. That's all she wanted after all. Love, care, and a bit of attention, something she had never really got as a kid.

Entering the forest, she took Calamity to a rundown barn nearby, supposedly haunted. She didn’t believe in such things and, besides, she had been keeping Calamity in here for years, ever since she stole her from the royal stables. She was only a foal back then but, now , she was a beautiful Mustang. Too bad she had to hide her all the way here in the woods. Calamity didn’t seem to mind it though. She got to roam around the old Barn and Ranch.

Taking off her getup and putting back her field working clothes, Falcon grabbed a couple of pails, filled up Calamity’s water supply and then went back to the well to get two more buckets.

Slowly walking back towards the village, Falcon came near Mrs. Bustillos bakery, seeing her set up her bread in the display window.

“Morning, Mrs. Bustillos” she hollered. Mrs. Bustillos looked up and stomped from inside and came right face to face with her.

“Nichole Haught!” Mrs. Bustillos said with a quiet yet stern voice. Yup, "Nichole". Her actual name. Her secret identity as some would say. She was just an average peasant girl who, unlike the other girls in town, wore pants and shirts instead of dresses. Sure everyone gave her weird looks for being different but she didn’t care. Her dad let her be whoever she wanted to.

“How many times do I have to tell you?” Mrs. Bustillos continued, “Stop flirting with Falcon! I know you go into those woods early in the morning so you can meet up with Falcon before he leaves. You're trying to trap him in your clutches. He’s supposed to marry my Rosita. You can’t just seduce him with your weird boyish charm! I don’t even know what he sees in you.”

Nichole couldn’t stop herself from letting out a burst of laughter. "Me and Falcon, right as if I’m narcissistic enough to fall in love with myself", she thought. Mrs. Bustillos, having had enough of this, turned around and began walking back towards her bakery. Finally getting herself together, Nichole answered back to her, “First of all, I have no interest in being with Falcon, Rosita is more than welcome to have him.” She paused and then mumbled, “And second, that boyish charm sure worked on your daughter last summer. ”

“Wait, what?” Mrs. Bustillos asked as she slowly turned around.

“Nothing!” Nichole yelled back. “Gotta go” she quickly said and began racing back home. Her dad, waiting for her while sitting near the stove and cooking some rice.

“Hey honey!” He smiled and got up to give Nichole a hug. “Where have you been all morning? Oh! Nevermind, you were probably with that Falcon boy. Nice kid. Gave me a little extra today knowing I needed it for my medicine. I wonder how he found out about that.” Nichole’s father asked, while nudging Nichole’s arm and winking.

Nichole stomping in frustration, “Why does everyone think I’m into Falcon? I barely even know the guy. Just because I come from the same direction that he goes in doesn't automatically mean we’re together. God this town and its rumors.”

“Well, either way, he's a nice kid. And even if you are just friends it's nice to have someone like that around to help us. Even if he does hide behind a mask. Tell me though, do you know who Falcon is. Everyone in town thinks you do but I won’t believe it until I hear it from you yourself.

Nichole, about to reach for a plate froze, not knowing what to say. She was never a good liar. She rambled, “Um, no, not really. I mean we’ve all just seen him around wearing that ridiculous getup. If I’d know any better, I’d say he's probably from a different village. Just helps us so he doesn’t get caught.”

Nichole turned around and took a breath, knowing she had talked way too fast for it to sound believable.

“Hm. makes sense” her dad replied, grabbing his hat and walking near the door. “And I guess if you really did love each other, he would have told you his identity by now. I mean that's how love works right? Anyways, I’ve got a couple of errands to run. I’ll be back by noon but make sure to eat you rice and then go milk the cows.” and with that he headed out, leaving Nichole thinking, she had never told her secret to anyone, other than her friend Xavier, but if she ever were to love someone enough to tell her secret, who would she tell?

_____________________________

The castle was left in shock. Seeing that Falcon had so easily broken into the King’s room, he worried for his daughter, Waverly. Confused and conflicted on what to do next, King Earp called in his royal advisor (who was also his doctor). A few years back, the king and his advisor had gotten polio and he had hired this doctor to come and take care of both of them. Though the advisor had unfortunately passed away, the doctor was able to save the King. In order to repay the doctor for helping him recover, the King proposed that he would be the new advisor as well as be the doctor for everyone in the kingdom.

“Call in Dr. Bulshar”, the King yelled at one of the guards. In seconds, Bulshar was present right in front of the King’s throne.

“You called your majesty?”, he asked with a smirk on his face, knowing the king was in a very vulnerable state.

“As you may have heard”, the king proceeded, “Falcon broke into my room last night and robbed me blind.”

“What a shame”, Bulshar replied

“Well I’m not worried about the jewels I have lost, but I am worried for my daughter’s sake. As you know, Waverly is the youngest and, luckily my other daughters are married and off, living elsewhere, safe in another kingdom, but until I can find an eligible groom for Waverly, I do not know what to do.”

Bulshar walked up to the throne, thinking while gently massaging his chin. “Well I believe the princess should have maximum security. She is currently residing on the 2nd floor but we should move her to the tower. It’s eight stories tall and, really, it's not much of a tower if you ask me. It looks much like any other bedroom in this castle, having a master suite and giant wardrobe. I’m sure it's much more roomy than her current bedroom.”

The king smiled, “Excellent idea! Now all I have to do is find an eligible groom. Bulshar, inform the guards to move my daughter's things to the tower. Tell them to make it as comfortable as possible. Oh and have a guard outside her room at all times. I will not risk her safety.”

“Of course your majesty”, Bulshar replied and turned around, smirking as he finally saw his plan begin to unfold.

__________________________________

“You sent me to the King’s goddamn bedroom! I barely made it out alive! I could have been killed!” Nichole screamed at Xavier who had come to visit Nichole back in her private, haunted stables.  
Xavier Dolls was the son of the castle’s grounds keeper and knew almost every room in the Castle. He was now one of the top guards. Nichole had known him since he was a kid, having been neighbors with his grandmother, whom he would often visit. She had recruited him when she first began stealing from the castle, knowing he knew almost every room in the castle, offering him a small amount of her earnings and promising to never expose him even if she herself was caught

“How was I supposed to know that that was the King’s bedroom. All I heard was the guards talking about a new safe being built in and having loads of coins and jewels. And it's not like you got caught. In fact, they’re even more scared of you. I hear they’re afraid for the sake of the princess, thinking you’d do something to harm her.”

The princess. If only it had been her room instead. No one had seen her ever since her mother was brutally murdered by an assassin from the enemy Kingdom. The last Nichole saw her was back when she was a child, and even that was from quite a distance. She wondered what she was like now, all grown up.

“Nichole, Nichole!”

Nichole snapped out of her thoughts and quickly turned to Xavier. “Sorry I was just thinking. Anyways, next time be careful. Make sure the room you give me doesn’t have anyone in it. I barely made it out. I might not be so lucky next time”

Xavier rolled his eyes, “I said I was sorry. But I do have a new room for you and I’m 100% sure it’ll be completely empty. I hear it keeps the king’s most prized possessions. Gold, jewels, priceless antiques, you name it. In fact, I believe if we do end up robbing this room clean, we wouldn’t have to rob the castle any more. We’d be rich beyond our wildest dreams!”

Nichole stood there, thinking. She never wanted to be rich or anything, she just wanted to help out the townsfolk, no matter how rude some of them, *cough* cough* Mrs. Bustillos*, may be. But being rich wouldn’t be too bad.

While brushing Calamity’s coat, Nichole questioned, “If this room is so amazing, how come you never told me about it before? We’ve been robbing them penny by penny for the past few years, why’d you wait so long to bring it up? And I mean there has to be a catch, no one just leaves a room full of goodies waiting to be robbed when they know someone’s out there trying to rob them clean. ”

Xavier answered, “Well I honestly didn’t even know that the tower was packed with loads of gold until a couple of days ago. And now they're saying that they're putting the King’s most prized possession in there since they’re afraid you might steal it. I don’t know what it is but seeing how afraid the king was, I’m sure it's something worth our while.”

Nichole stopped brushing Calamity and walked closer to Xavier. “You didn't answer me. What's. The. Catch.” she asked one last time.

Xavier looked down at his boots, rubbing his neck, seeming a bit uneasy.

“Well, the only problem is, you’ve only climbed up to the third floor of the castle, right?”

Nichole nodded in agreement, “Yeah…”

“The tower is a little higher than that.” he mumbled, “Its hreh sories tall”

“What?” Nichole asked, “How many stories?”

He mumbled again.

“Xavier, I’m serious tell me”

“Eight! Eight stories, Nichole”

Nichole looked at him with disbelief and panic. “Eight stories! Dude that's more than double of what I’m used to. I barely made three stories, how am I supposed to climb that!”

“You got this!” Xavier replied. “If anyone can do it, it's you. And I mean if you think you can’t, I guess we’ll just find another room.”

“No” Nichole answered, “It's gonna be hard, but I think I can do it. I climb the mountain around our town all the time. This shouldn’t be much different right?”

Xavier looked at her with a bit of shock, seeing she agreed so quickly, but smiled, “I knew you’d be up for the challenge! Okay I gotta go help dad with some stuff but if I hear anything else about the tower, I’ll let you know as soon as possible.”

After taking a few steps, he turned and rambled, “Oh also there's gonna be a bunch of security now since the new possession is being put in the tower tonight, bye!” and with that he ran back towards town.

Nichole, left alone, turned to Calamity, “Well looks like we’re gonna go on another trip to the castle. And who knows, it may be our last. Which I guess could mean we either get super rich or I die in the process.”

Brushing Calamity’s mane one last time, Nichole packed her stuff and headed back towards town, thinking how she’d survive this new mission.

___________________________________

Waverly rushed towards the throne room. Entering she saw her father sitting and discussing something with Dr. Bulshar. Oh how she despised him. She knew he was taking advantage of her father. In fact, she thought he had purposely let the advisor die, knowing he’d be granted the opportunity to swipe the job for himself.

Waverly walked up to her father’s throne, “Father, why are the guards moving my stuff from my room into the tower? I’ve been trying to ask them but they won’t listen. What's going on!”

Her father looked at her with kind eyes, “Honey, I know this is a tough time but, as you’ve probably heard, Falcon broke into my room last night. I can’t risk him doing the same to you, so we have decided to shift you in the tower for the time being, just until we get you married and out of here. I’m thinking of Prince Jeremy. He’s a fine young man and can keep you very happy in that kingdom of his”

Waverly looked at her father in disbelief, “Falcon, Falcon, Falcon! That’s all we ever talk about. Sure he broke into YOUR room and stole a few things but what does that have to do with me. It’s not like he hurt you or something. He never hurts anyone, yet you still cower.”

Her father shook his head, “I woke up in time to catch him. Had I remained sleeping, who knows what he would have done to me. Leaving you all alone in this castle with no one to look up to, no one to marry you off.”

Waverly couldn’t believe her father wanted to get rid of her so fast. She was only 17 and, sure Jeremy was a great friend and all but she knew neither of them had ever seen each other as anything but friends. Nothing more, nothing less.

“This isn’t fair.” She responded, “Willa and Wynonna got to marry who they wanted, when they knew the time was right. I mean Willa married Prince Robert when she was 21 and they actually loved each other. And Wynonna, well she married Blacksmith Holliday! And sure you tried to convince her not to but, in the end, you buily them a castle in the mountains and let them live their lives as they wished. Why am I being treated differently! Can’t I just have some time to explore the world before getting married? Don’t I get the choice to marry someone I love?”

Bulshar intervened, receiving a disgusted stare from Waverly.

“My dear,” He began, “It was not your father’s idea. It was mine. Now there is no need to act as a child. You must understand times are different and, though it may seem as if we are being unfair, it is for your own safety. And it's not like you will be locked in the tower. You will be given all the amenities you need and be free to come and go as you please. And, I mean, if you wish for company, I would be more than happy to visit you once in a while or even stay with you. We can convert the closet into a little room for me.”

Waverly yelled, “I wouldn’t be caught dead in the same room as you! Father don’t you see what he’s doing. He’s slowly taking over all your thoughts and actions. You proceed to listen to him and ignore your own daughter, who is more than grown enough to make her own decisions. If I had a say, I would have banished Dr. Bulshar from this place a long time ago!”

“That’s enough!” Her father exclaimed, getting up from his throne. “I don’t care what you have to say Waverly. As far as I’m concerned, you have no right to make decisions when living within my castle walls. Go to your tower.”

“But..” Waverly stuttered

“Go!” The king yelled, pointing towards the Throne room doors. Waverly turned to leave, giving Bulshar one last death stare. Him smirking back. With rage, she stomped out of the room and towards her new room, knowing Bulshar was winning by breaking the bond between her and her father.

________________________________

Nichole began to get Calamity ready to ride up to the castle. It had been a week since Xavier had given the new mission. Operation tower she called it, still wondering what kind of riches could be hidden within those tower walls. She was planning to hide the goodies in the old haunted ranch with Calamity. She would keep the goodies and disperse them to the town’s people once a week, just like she normally did, making sure not to draw attention towards any of the town's people by giving them extra.

After making sure she had everything she needed, including her disguise, she climbed up on Calamity and rode into the darkness.

__________________________________

After about an hour, Nichole reached the end of the forest, tying Cality’s harness near the small pond and heading out towards the Castle. She swiftly moved near the castle walls, looking at the Bell tower. 2:15. She had about 45 minutes to get in and out. She could do it. She knew she could, but still she felt a pit in her stomach.  
Scaling the wall, she perched on top and saw the castle tower. It was in the left, back corner of the castle. After turning and seeing the clock read 2:25, she began running alongside the top, making it to the back left corner of the castle barrier wall. Surprisingly, no guards stood around the walls of the tower. She figured they knew it would be difficult to scale the tower walls and only a moron would try. She was that moron. She was going to risk everything for this one mission. Was she being greedy? Couldn’t she just continue being a petty thief rather than trying to steal the King’s most prized possessions?  
Before she knew it, though, she was already scaling the tower, almost reaching what would be the 5th floor. Putting all her strength into reaching the 8th floor, nearing the window sill, she grabbed on, almost slipping at one point, but finally reaching it and pulling herself up to take a peek inside.

_______________________________________

It had been about a week since Waverly had been shifted to the tower. It wasn’t all that bad. She actually kind of liked it, having her own privacy, getting to do whatever she desired up there. Of course, she was never going to admit it to her father. He had locked her up here like a bird in a cage. She would stay up all night, writing poems, reading books, painting, and whatever else she wanted. She couldn’t go out at night, though, having a guard right at her doorstep.

Bulshar had come a few times up to her room to talk to her, wanting to convince her to come down and talk to her father. Acting so innocent and caring, but she knew it was only a matter of time until he’d show his true colors. She couldn’t wait to see her father’s face then, discovering his daughter was right all along, maybe giving her some more freedom.

She had gone to bed early tonight, but she just couldn’t fall asleep. After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, she got up and looked out the window, clearly seeing the clock tower in the distance. 2:25. She knew she wasn’t going to get any sleep anytime soon.

Sitting there she went into deep thought: Gosh I wish I could go outside and explore. I mean I’m not old yet. I don’t need to settle down already. I want to explore, have some fun, maybe even get to find someone who I would choose to marry. Not Jeremy of course, he’s just a friend. Someone a little more adventurous, someone whose presence makes me nervous but excited at the same time. I wonder what my person is doing out there right now? How will they ever find me if I’m stuck in this stupid castle.

With a sigh, she looked up into the sky and saw a shooting star. Sure she didn’t believe in stupid superstitions and junk but whats the harm in trying, she thought. Closing her eyes and holding her hands close together, she mumbled a wish:

“I wish I find someone who can get me out of this stupid castle. Not someone who’s gonna “rescue” me and think of me as a prize. Someone who respects me and lets me do whatever I wish. Someone who treats me as my own person.”

With that, she let out another sigh and walked back towards her bed. Feeling a bit cold, she turned towards her closet. Now where is that blanket, she asked herself and walked in, shutting the door behind her.

______________________________

Taking a peek inside the room and seeing it was clear, Nichole jumped inside, making sure to keep as quiet as she could. She knew no one from the castle could possibly hear her but there were supposed to be dozens of guards outside that door.

Pulling herself together, Nichole began to scan the area. While looking around without making too much sound, Nichole began digging through a trunk, finding nothing but dresses and silks. No jewels, no gold. Shaking her head in disbelief, she closed the trunk.

*THUNK*

The trunk lid created a larger sound than she had anticipated, wincing as it collided with the trunk top. Hoping no one heard, Nichole nearly screamed when she heard a knock on the door. Afraid of being caught, the only place she could find to hide was on the bed, under a blanket.

The door slowly opened as a guard peeked inside and asked:

“Princess?”

Seeing Nichole in bed, he took a quick look around, thought everything looked in order and left, shutting the door behind.

Nichole let out a deep breath after he left. Princess? She asked herself. But quickly went back to work, knowing she didn't have much time. Jumping out of the bed she fixed her hat to hide her short red hair from sight, knowing it would definitely give away her identity. Getting up and looking around she noticed two doors. Taking a lucky guess, she walked in one and shut the door. A bathroom. Really. Well maybe they hid the stuff in here. And with that Nichoile began quietly digging through the bathroom cabinets.

__________________________________

Finding her favorite blanket in one of the chests in her closet, Waverly walked out, noticing her bedsheets were all messed. Weird, she thought, but paid no mind to it and set her blanket on the bed. Looking out the window one last time, she saw an unusual bracelet on the window sill. It was a simple, silver bracelet. Looking closer, she read the initials N.H.

Weirder, she thought to herself, knowing the tower was way too high for a random bracelet to just end up on the sill. Still observing it, she heard a small clash from the bathroom. Slowly walking up to the bathroom, she turned the knob and quickly opened the door.

Standing there, she saw a person. They were tall, slim, wearing a black outfit with a matching mask and hat. As the mystery person turned to look towards her, she immediately realized who this was. “Shit”, she mumbled under her breath, left there paralyzed. She knew this was Falcon. He slowly walked towards her but before he could get to close, she opened her mouth, ready to scream.

“Fal….!”, But before she could finish, Falcon had already jumped towards her, clamping their hand on her mouth and accidentally pushing her onto the bed. As they laid there, Falcon on top of Waverly, they whispered,

“Please, please be quiet. I’m not here to hurt you. I was just here because I heard there were jewels in the tower. Not that you aren’t a jewel yourself, but not the kind I’d like to take with me tonight.” they smiled.

Waverly looked into this person’s eyes. For some reason she trusted them, knowing that these humble eyes would never try to hurt a soul. She could stay here forever, staring into those pools of chocolate.

Snapping back to reality as Falcon snapped their fingers in front of her, she heard them ask, “So do you promise not to scream if I take my hand off your mouth”.

Waverly slowly but eagerly nodded.

As Falcon began to take his hand off her mouth, something flew above their head and hit Falcons head, knocking them unconscious and into Waverly’s arms.

Waverly looked up to find a young guard right behind Falcon. As a smile grew on his face he began to mumble to himself.

“I caught Falcon.” As a smile creeped on his face, he started speaking a little louder, “I caught Falcon! Princess I told the guys I’d save you from this Falcon fella." He looked up at her, "Now, please, reward me with a kiss.”

He closed his eyes and puckered up as Waverly settled Falcon’s body on the bed and got up, fixing her dress and grabbing the sword the guard had settled on the ground.

“I have a better idea” she mumbled to herself, and used the sword to knock the guard out. Pulling his body back outside her door and setting him down with the sword, she shut her door and locked it.

Going back towards her bed, she looked down at Falcon. She felt a connection to this Falcon boy, as if he was her one way ticket to adventure and freedom. She also had a bunch of questions to ask him. Knowing that she couldn’t possibly let anyone in the castle know Falcon was here, unless she wanted him beheaded, she began to think of a brilliant idea to keep him safe and out of sight.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning sunlight shined on Nichole’s face, waking her up. She had a crick in her neck and began to slowly open her eyes and look around. As she slowly came to, she realized she was in some kind of a closet. Hundreds of dresses hanging around and thousands of shoes. She was sitting upright but, as she tried to stand, she noticed she was tied up with.....ribbons? Thinking they would easily tear, she began to try and pull her hands apart, only to chafe her wrists. 

After dozens of attempts, she gave up, thinking back to the night before to get an idea of what could have possibly caused this. She recalled breaking into the tower, finding nothing and then,........oh. The princess, she thought. She had fallen on top of the princess, trying to keep her quiet. She really was beautiful. Hazel eyes that shined under the light of the moon. How could she possibly forget a face like that? But she also recalled something heavy hitting her in the head. That wasn’t the princess. The princess had agreed to listen. But then again it could have all just been a ploy to keep her distracted while the guards got to her. 

So where was she? A closet-dungeon? Nah. Were they going to torture her by making her wear these itchy and uncomfortable dresses? Hopefully not, that would be the worst punishment of all. She’d rather be beheaded.

Lost in thought, she didn’t even notice as someone walked into the room. The sun still shining in her eyes, Nichole could hardly see who had entered.

“Hello?” she asked. “Look do what you want with me but could I at least know what kind of sick dungeon I’m in. These dresses make me wanna puke. How’d you know my biggest fear is having to wear a dress?” 

She heard the figure giggle, and as they came closer, she recognized that gorgeous face. It was the princess. She was even more beautiful in the sunlight, having soft, pretty features. She was wearing a white dress, nothing too poofy or goofy looking, just a simple elegant gown-like dress. Her wavy, brunette hair open, coming down just below her shoulders and, on top of her head, an elegant little crown made of small, white gypsophila flowers. She looked stunning but Nichole did her best to keep her cool. 

“You’re not in a dungeon.”, She replied, smiling. “And I’m the one you should thank. If it weren’t for me, you’d probably be rotting in some cell by now or, worse, be on your way to the executioner.” 

Nichole looked at her, shocked. She knew they had a kind of, sort of intimate moment on the bed, but she didn’t think she’d save her from the king’s clutches.

“Well why did you save me? I don’t see how you get anything out of it. Unless you plan to keep me tied up here as a hostage and use me as a sex slave, which, in all honesty, I wouldn't mind at all.” 

The princess blushed, but immediately replied, “No, no. it's nothing like that.” She smirked, leaning closer to Nichole’s face. “Though I bet you wish it were.” Nichole was now blushing. Hopefully the mask kept her red face hidden well enough.  
Backing away, the princess turned around. “I'm just curious. For years I've been seeing how you've robbed us blind, without a trace. Why do you come to the castle each week and steal from us? I mean, haven’t you collected enough riches to help you make it through a lifetime? Aren’t you tired of coming here. Though, then again, the challenge is probably exhilarating." She finished, her eyes gleaming with anticipation and a bit of excitement as well. 

Nichole, first of all, shook that the princess actually somewhat flirted back with her, sighed and answered in all honesty, feeling as if she could trust her. “Well I’m not some petty thief. I steal from your castle and then head back to town to share my winnings with the poor folks in need of money. You know, while you all relax here with your luxury dresses and humongous closets, they suffer each and every day. I wouldn’t expect you to understand but that's literally why I do it. Just to help them. And this tower was supposed to be my final robbery. I had heard the King had just put his most prized possession in this tower so he could hide it from me. Never knew it was gonna end up being a princess.”

Nichole noticed that the princess had listened to her very carefully, hanging onto each word. When Nichole finished, the princess scoffed, “Well first of all, whoever you heard that from, tell them I am no one’s possession. And, second, how can I trust you? How do I know your little story isn't made up?"

Nichole chuckled, “Well that's the problem isn’t it. You can’t. If you had only a day in my shoes, you’d see what I’m talking about.” 

The princess, first acbit confused, quickly perked up. “That’s a great idea!” 

Nichole, looking concerned, asked, “What is?”

Before the princess could explain, Nichole heard the tower door open and the king’s voice call out for her. 

“Waverly! Waverly, where are you!?” 

The princess rushed towards the door, turning around to face Nichole, right before exiting and replying, “I’ll explain later. Right now just stay quiet if you want to keep your head attached to your body. We can’t risk father hearing you.”

Before Nichole could say anything, the princess was gone. And Nichole was left alone, thinking to herself, "Waverly. What a beautiful name."

______________________________________

“Waverly!” The king yelled.

“I’m here, I’m here.” She replied as she came out of the closet. 

“My dear! Oh I was so worried. The guard told me he caught Falcon inside the tower, but was then knocked out by someone (no doubt Falcon himself) and then, when he came to, he was locked out of the tower. He rushed to inform me and I got here as soon as I could and had the locksmith open the door. Are you alright?”

“Nice to see you too father”, Waverly replied, rolling her eyes. “I have no idea what the guard’s talking about. I slept like a baby. There was no commotion in my room last night. Other than the fact that the guard tried to kiss me. But he looked half asleep so I don’t blame him.”   
The guard, looking distressed and afraid argued, “No I didn’t! Falcon was here and I saved the princess. She was going to reward me with a kiss. She’s lying!” 

The king, now confused, looked at the guard and yelled, “You are fired! First you make up a story, which was clearly a dream, freak me out and then have the audacity to call my daughter a liar! Get out of my sight. And if I do ever see you near the castle or my daughter, you’ll get the chance to meet my executor.”

With that, the guard skedaddled out of the room, giving Waverly a nasty look before leaving.

“We should check the tower just to make sure the princess is not mistaken”, Dr. Bulshar said as he walked out of the shadows, “We wouldn't want the princess being in any sort of...danger.” he finished smirking. “In fact, I believe I should come check on her every once in a while at night. Just to make sure no one sneaks in while she’s sleeping. Even these guards can be a threat”.

The princess filled with rage responded, “The only possible source of danger in this is you Bulshar. No one else would lay a hand on me except you. I’d be safer with Falcon than with a treacherous demon like you! And father, before imposing yourself into my room, you should have respected my privacy. You already have me locked up in this tower. And, if it really is as safe as you claim it to be, why do you fear Falcon may come here?”

Left speechless, the king calmly answered, “It is for your own good. And, Bulshar, you will be making rounds here everynight to make sure the princess is safe. Seeing what that guard tried to do, I trust no one else.” Smirking Bulshar bowed,  
“As you wish your highness.” Leaving the room right after, they left no time for Waverly to argue, and though she would in a heartbeat, the only thing she could think of now was going to Falcon and telling him her plan

_____________________________________

As she walked into the closet, she saw Falcon trying his best to escape from the ribbons that tied his hands behind the chairs. “You can try all you want, it's not going to work. Those ribbons are made from the toughest silk in the world. Even scissors barely leave a scratch on them.”

Falcon chuckled. “Okay so what’s the brilliant plan you came up with, your excellency. I’ve been dying to hear about it. Speaking of which, could you give me something to eat or at least drink before I perish of hunger.”

“Oh right! I’ll give you something right after I explain to you my plan. But, first things first, don’t call me that my princess or that majesty shit. Just call me Waverly please, that's what my friends call me.”

“Ohm so I’m pushed into the friend zone already. Splendid, well Waverly please tell me your plan so I can see if it has anything to do with me being released.”

Waverly continued, “Okay, well, you said that I could never experience what you go through unless I’m in your shoes, right. Soooooo, I’ve decided that I’m going to dress up as you and go down to the town to see if you really are who you say. If you are, then I will release you. But if not, then you owe me.”

“You can’t do that!” Falcon argued, “The people are going to know it’s not me. You talk differently and you’re much shorter, they’ll never believe it.”

Waverly thought about it but had already made up her mind. “I’m going no matter what you may say, but I will take some of my gold trinkets to give out so it looks legitimate. And I guess I won’t get off my horse so they can’t really get a gist of my height.”

Waverly quickly grabbed a few clothes from the hundreds of racks she had and ran into the dressing room, all while Falcon looked at her in confusion. When she came out she looked like the spitting image of Falcon. All she was missing was a mask.

She walked towards Falcon, “How do I look?”, she asked, doing a 360 turn. 

“Stunning” Falcon sputtered. 

Waverly blushed once again. Shocked at how the tiniest things Falcon said made her feel nervous. A feeling she hadn’t felt before. 

She snapped out of her thoughts, “It looks great but I don’t have an exact replica of your mask. If I could just borrow it…”

Falcon backed his face as far away as he could. “If you have any respect for me, you will leave my mask and identity alone.”

Waverly jerked her hand back, “I respect that” she smiled, “Besides I think I might have a better one in my drawer. Back from the last spring masquerade ball.”

Falcon rolled his gorgeous brown eyes, “Wait, what if someone in the castle thinks you're the real Falcon and attacks.”

Waverly looked at him in disbelief, “Well then I just raise my mask. Duh.” 

She walked over to her dresser and grabbed a knife from the drawer. Falcon, looking at the suprisingly large knife, chuckled, "Oh so you're gonna kill me now. Great, just great. I'm gonna die and no ones gonna know where I am."

Waverly rolled her eyes, "Don't be so dramatic." She ran out of her room, grabbed an apple from her desk and came back. "I was gonna cut you some apple slices since you're hungry. I wasn't just gonna give you a whole apple and let you deal with that. I'll feed you."

Waverly walked closer, cutting the apple into eight little slices. She began to give them to Falcon one by one. He mumbled, still chewing on a piece, "You know, I haven't been hand fed since...well ever. I'll be honest, it kinda feels nice, especially since its someone as beautiful as you." He winked, trying to nibble her finger after the last slice. Waverly pulled her finger back away, turning to hide her blush.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to flirt with me." She Leaned closer, "And, believe me, you are in no position to be flirting with me. Make the wrong move and I could have you sent to the executioner." 

As she turned to leave, Falcon responded, "But you won't. I know you won't."  
She walked out the door without answering. At that moment, she realized she had a liking to this boy. Even if her father hated him, she could tell he was actually sweet. (little did she know he was not a he at all).

_______________________________________________

Easily getting out of the castle and onto her horse, Waverly rode all the way to the small town. It took her about an hour to get there (It was about 7:00) and, though at first she thought she was going to have some trouble finding the town, she was surprised with a warm welcome. As her horse trotted into the street, people from every house came out to cheer her on, giving her props and little sweet rewards. Little children rushed to her horse, asking why she was late today. Not knowing what to say, Waverly tried to remain as quiet as possible, giving away the little gold trinkets to each and every home. 

Looking around, she saw the rough conditions of the houses. Paint chipping, walls cracked, and even the roofs drooping down. Water damage leaving most, if not all, the buildings crumbling away. Waverly had never seen such rough conditions. She had always been tucked away in the castle walls and was barely ever allowed to ever leave. She was lucky no one caught her today, or else she would have never seen these conditions. She knew she had to do something about this. 

While trotting around in thought, Waverly nearly fell off her horse when she heard someone scream from behind:

“Falcon, Falcon!” 

She turned as she recalled that "Falcon" was her supposed name and looked below at a woman, probably nearing her 60s. 

“Falcon dear, I don’t mean to take up much of your time since you are later than usual but I wanted to talk to you about my daughter, Rosita.”

Waverly, kind of confused, whispered in a deeper voice, “What about her?” Not knowing who this person was or where they were going with this.

“Well she’s had a crush on you for quite some time now and was asking if you could possibly go horseback riding with her or something”.

Okay, now Waverly was even more confused, not knowing what to do. Before she had a chance to say anything, a beautiful young girl, probably in her twenties, came rushing.

“Mom!”, the old lady turned around, “Oh, Rosita, honey, we were just talking about you.”

Rosita rolled her eyes, “Mom I don’t need you to hook me up with dates. Falcon you’re free to go and, no, we are not going horseback riding.”

Leaving the two ladies fighting, Waverly turned to head back to the castle, now knowing that Falcon definitely had a love for these people and them for him. She wanted to do something to help, for she knew it was her destiny. 

___________________________________

Nichole was tired. After multiple escape attempts, she finally gave up and just waited for Waverly to come back. Waverly, She thought. She was different. A little odd and quirky, but a good different for sure. She seemed unique, beautiful. And her eyes, gosh, they were just gorgeous, weren’t they? Maybe a date wouldn’t be so bad? 

Who was she kidding. Of course a princess wouldn’t want anything to do with someone like her. And even if she had a chance, her whole personality was a lie. She wasn’t nearly as tough and clever as she depicted herself to be. And, oh right, Waverly thought she was a guy. Surely she wouldn't be attracted to her when she realized she was a girl. Right?

Deep in thought, Nichole jerked when she heard the door fly open, causing the chair to fall back onto the ground.

“God where the hell have you been. I’ve been waiting for hours. I’m so BORED!” Nichole cried out as she tried to somewhat pull herself up from the floor. 

Waverly, still wearing her Falcon costume, rushed over and pulled the chair up with just one hand. She might have looked fragile, but Nichole could tell she was pretty strong, physically and mentally, no doubt. She didn’t try and act stupid to be cute. Nope, she had pride in being smart and that was the trait Nichole liked about her the most. 

“Sorry, I got a bit caught up.” Waverly answered as she began taking off the mask and hat. “I actually almost landed you a date with some girl named Rosita. She was pretty hot if you ask me, i’d totally go for it if I were you.” 

Did she just call Rosita hot? Was she attracted to girls too. Nah. She was just trying to express how pretty Rosita was. I’m reading too much into this.

“So what did you find out about me, other than the fact that girls would die for me?” Nichole asked, trying to be smooth and flirtatious.

Waverly rolled her eyes, coming closer to Nichole’s chair and laying down on her stomach, her hands under her chin and her feet in the air. Settling down, she looked at Nichole. Her eyes glimmering and looking even more beautiful than before.

“You know,” Waverly started, “you really shouldn’t try to be so cocky and flirtatious. The douchebag look doesn’t really suit you. It’s clearly not you. I’ve seen you act kind before. You seem nicer and actually attractive when you act like your real self.”

Nichole, again left speechless. Did she just call me attractive? Does she actually like my real personality?

“Anyways, I did go into town and found out a bit about you. Guess your story checks out. They really love you out there you know?”

“Of course they do” Nichole replied looking down at Waverly. “That’s why I do whatever it takes to help them, even if I have to risk my life for it. They deserve a lot more than they have.”

Nichole stared at Waverly, who was looking kind of glum as she listened to Nichole. She sighed, “I’m sorry for putting you through all this. I shouldn’t have ever told you my sob story.” As she teared her eyes off of Waverly and looked away, Waverly quickly crawled up to her chair, grabbing Nichole’s chin and pulling her face towards her. 

“It's not a sob story,” she whispered. “And I’m willing to do whatever I can to help you. I want to help you and my people.” 

Nichole could feel Waverly’s breath on her lips. God she could kiss this wonderful woman right now. She had never expected someone, nonetheless a princess, to willingly help her. Before she could get the chance to kiss her though, Waverly got up and fixed her dress.

“Besides. I saw the houses and buildings in that town. I’m not letting anyone live under those kinds of conditions. I may not be able to give any money to the townspeople yet but I’m going to take a couple of guards and workers and we’re gonna work together to fix up the town. Are you in?”

Wanting to scream yes, Nichole knew she couldn’t do something like that. There would be guards and if they saw her, she’d be caught right then and there. The only way she could possibly help the princess was as Nichole. She had to either tell the princess her real identity or just remain basic Nichole, who the princess would possibly refuse to even talk to. 

“Why are you hesitating?” Waverly asked.

“I can’t” Nichole replied, “Your guards would catch me in a second. I’d be dead. The only way I ever helped was by providing gold. That’s all.”

Nichole could tell Waverly was thinking. Her cute little hand rubbing her chin as she contemplated what she could do. 

“That’s it!” she finally exclaimed. “From now on, every week, you are to come to the tower instead of stealing from the castle. Here, I will collect some jewelry and coins and give them to you to give to the people. It'll be safer for you and still be helpful to the people.

God was this woman a genius or what?

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am!” Waverly exclaimed. “Come every Wednesday so I’ll be prepared. Oh and you should probably go now. My maid comes around this time to clean up and I don’t want her finding you in my closet.”

“Ummmm” Nichole mumbled as she signaled Waverly towards her tied hands. 

“Oh right!” Waverly chuckled as she rushed to Nichole’s side, kneeing and untying the ribbons.

Finally loose, Nichole rubbed her wrists with her hand and looked up at Waverly. Waverly smiled back. “Sorry we had to meet like this.” 

Nichole smiled back, “I'd have it no other way. And thank you. For everything really. And, who knows, maybe I will see you building the houses. From a distance of course. But I’ll be there.”

Nichole could see Waverly blush a little. Waverly escorted Nichole out of the closet and showed her to the window. 

Perching up on the tower’s window sill, Nichol turned one last time. “Until we meet again” she whispered under her breath, loud enough for Waverly to hear. And with that she leaped out, using her backpack wings to help her glide over the castle wall and somewhere into the woods. 

_______________________________________

Waverly stared out the window until she could no longer see Falcon. He really is dreamy, she thought. Rushing out the tower door and down the stairs, she looked around the castle for her father, wanting to talk to him about helping the townspeople rebuild their homes and shops.

Hearing some mumbling outside in the balcony, she rushed outside, only to find the king and someone else sitting with their backs towards her. As she got closer, she realized who it was. 

Jeremy. God her dad had some audacity to invite Jeremy here without even asking or at least giving her a heads up. Jeremy was an amazing friend of course and she loved when he came over, but she knew why he was invited here today.

“Honey! You finally decided to come down stairs. I was just about to send Bulshar up there to let you know your friend Jeremy had come over.”

Before Waverly could ask her father anything, he got up from his chair. “Come sit dear. I have a few errands to run but you two enjoy yourself.” And with that he was gone, closing the balcony’s french doors behind him.

“So how’ve you been Waverly? Long time, no see, how's everything going?” Jeremy asked, clearly looking a little jittery.

Waverly could clearly tell her dad had told Jeremy that he wanted Waverly to marry him. The awkwardness and tense feeling could speak for itself. 

Looking at Jeremy and no longer able to take the weird feeling, Waverly blurted, “Look Jeremy. You’re a really nice guy and all but, before you get your hopes up or anything, I have no intention of marrying you. I love you as a friend of course but I can’t see you as a lover. And I’m still young! I wanna travel and see the world. Please don’t take it to heart, it's nothing personal.”

Looking down at her shoes now, expecting to see a heartbroken Jeremy, Waverly was left speechless as she heard him burst into laughter.

“Oh thank God!” He yelled. “I was still trying to figure out how to tell you that I didn’t wanna marry you. I thought your dad asked me to marry you because you wanted to marry me! Damn, this is so much better and, I mean, I’m already in love with someone else.”

Waverly smiled, chuckling a bit herself. “Wow I thought you had agreed to want to marry me and that's why father left us to talk to one another. Didn’t know you already had your own romance going on. There goes my back up husband”, she joked. “But tell me, who are you in love with? Oh is it the duke’s daughter, Chrissy? Or Mercedes, King Gardner’s daughter. Oh please don’t tell me it's her sister, Beth Gardner. You deserve much better than her.”

Jeremy chuckled, rubbing his neck. “Well actually it's none of them. It's actually Robin.” 

“Robin?” she questioned. “Who's that? I’ve never heard of her before.”

“Well...thats the thing. He's actually he’s a boy.”

“Oh” Waverly blurted without thinking, blushing with embarrassment from assuming. She felt so stupid. It's not that she was against same sex marriage, she just never knew anyone who was homosexual. Sure she had heard stories and rumors about a couple of royals who were supposedly homosexual but she didn’t personally know anyone. Trying not to make herself seem narrow minded and keeping things from getting awkward again, she continued:

“Well tell me about him. I wanna know who's the man who stole my little Jeremy’s heart.” ending her sentence while giving Jeremy a little pat on the head.

Jeremy gave a big smile, “I knew you wouldn’t make this weird! All my other friends got weirded out and just stopped talking to me after I told them. They thought it was gonna rub off on them or something.” 

Waverly leaned closer, holding his hand, “Love is love, Jeremy. And if this Robin fellow makes you happy, I totally support you! But come on now, tell me about him!”

Jeremy started, “Okay so my gardner, Jett’s, brother passed away about a year ago and his brother had this son, Robin, who was literally left with nothing and practically starving on the streets. So he brought him to my kingdom so he could stay with him. My father needed a new secretary so he decided to hire him. He was awful at the job though, but my dad really likes Jett so he decided to train him. He was really busy though so he decided to get me to help him learn. At first things were a bit awkward between us, he kept calling me your majesty and shit, but then we started talking and becoming good friends. And then, all of a sudden, I realized I had these feelings for him that I couldn’t explain. I had never felt that way before and I was so confused. And then, a couple of months ago, Robin was sitting, reading some documents my father gave him to file and I walked up to him and kissed him. At first he was kinda shocked, but then he kissed me back. And now, he sneaks into my room every night and stays with me till dawn. It's actually kinda sexy.” 

Waverly had been listening to Jeremy’s little love story with much interest. She couldn’t help but compare everything he was saying to her own little story with Falcon. Sure she had only met him once and held him hostage but she knew there was something about him that she really couldn’t pin. 

“That's a beautiful story, Jeremy. See that's how I wanna find love. I don’t wanna be shipped out with the first person who agrees to marry me. Tell me, though, what were these feelings you felt that told you Robin was the one?”

Jeremy took a second to think. “To be honest, its kinda hard to explain. You just know it. It's like you miss them when they aren't there but, when they are, you get all nervous and feel butterflies in your stomach. But, when they start talking to you, it all goes away and it feels like you two are the only people in the room, which for me and Robin, we normally are.”

“Wow”. That’s all Waverly could say. She had clearly never felt this before and it was too soon for her to tell with Falcon. She had barely met the guy.

“Anyways Waves, enough about me. Do you have anyone? A crush or something?” 

Waverly’s face turned red. It was as if Jeremy had read her mind and knew about Falcon. 

“Ummm not really. There is this one guy I met but it's nothing serious. We barely know each other. It’s gonna take some time to figure it out.”

“Well tell me how it ends up. I told you everything about Robin so you owe me. Actually I should be heading out right about now. Me and Robin are finally going to confess our love for one another to my parents. Hopefully he accepts and, even if he doesn't, we’re going to elope tonight. Don’t worry I’ll stay in contact with you though. I’ve always trusted you, you know?”

Waverly smiled, still trying to process his plan. “Well then I shouldn’t hold you back any longer. Go on and do your thing. And say hi to Robin for me. I wanna meet him so either invite me to the wedding or come here after you elope.” 

After exchanging goodbyes and hugs, Jeremy went out through the balcony's french doors, leaving Waverly to look into the distance from the balcony and just think:

I wonder if I could ever fall in love with a girl. 

____________________________________

Nichole stood there under the porch of the haunted stable. She had brought Calamity some carrots and was feeding them to her as she waited for Xavier. After she had come back from the tower, she sent him a message to quickly meet her, wanting to discuss what Waverly had offered. Her father had questioned her that day too. Seeing that she arrived home at 11:00 he wondered where she had gone. He suspected she had spent that morning with Falcon, but she told him she had just gone to hike up in the mountains. Mrs. Bustillos didn’t buy it. She continued to accuse Nichole of seducing “poor” Falcon into her evil clutches, making Nichole a bit uncomfortable.

After waiting for about an hour, Xavier finally showed up, running.

“Sorry I’m late. Had to help my dad finish a few things at the castle before coming over. I didn’t hear anyone talk about you or anything being stolen so I guess they haven’t checked out the tower yet. So, go on, show me the goods.” Xavier said, rubbing his hands and smiling.

Nichole stood there, hands crossed against her chest. “Dude, you messed up again.”

Dropping his hands to his side and quickly changing his smile to a frown, he asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, Xavier, thanks to you, I could have gotten my head cut off. I broke into the tower, just like you said and, when I got there, there was nothing. No gold, no jewels, no nothing. Oh expect, what was it again….. Oh right, THE PRINCESS!”

Nichole went on to tell the whole story to Xavier, telling him the proposition the princess had offered and how she seemed pretty nice compared to her red faced father. 

“I don’t think you should trust her,” Xavier answered in the end.

“Why not? She’s offering to help us! Why would I continue to dig through the castle to find trouble when the princess is willing to just hand it over?”

“That's the problem. It’s too good to be true. It's probably a trap.”

“If she wanted to trap me, she could have done it last night, but she refused to. She sees me for who I am, not just a petty thief, but someone who wants to help.”

Xavier blinked in disbelief, “ Hold up! You have a crush on her, don’t you?”

Nichole turned redder than her hair. “N...no i don’t!”

“Oh yes you do! You never trust someone that fast. And this is the same way you acted when you first met Rosita! Except, this time, you actually got to know the girl a bit instead of just jumping into bed with her.”

Nichole stood there in thought. Did she really have a crush on this girl? A girl she didn’t even have an ounce of chance with? God, why was life always toying with her.

“Looks like you got a few things to figure out with yourself. I’m gonna head out and, if you decide not to go with the princess’s plan, let me know and I’ll find you some room’s instead.” And with that, Xavier was gone, leaving Nichole even more confused, and even a bit heartbroken.

_____________________________________

Waverly finally went back inside, leaving the balcony and her thoughts behind and focusing on finding her dad.

She searched the whole castle, finding the king nowhere. Frustrated, she went back to the throne room and plopped herself in her father’s throne. Oh how she had so many memories there, playing pirates with her sisters, getting in trouble and listening to her father’s lectures, and even a distant memory of her mother, softly braiding her hair. "She would let me do whatever I wanted", she thought. "She’d let me travel the world, help the townspeople in need. She’d let me fall in love."

“Can I be of any assistance?” Bulshar asked, sneaking up behind the throne. 

“Oh God! Bulshar, you scared me. What are you doing here. You’re not allowed to come in here unless my father calls you in or if you are invited by me and, frankly, my father is not here and I’d rather not be accompanied by you right now.”

Bulshar chuckled, “Dear princess. You really mustn't get angry like this. I am only here to help and it seems like you are in need of some assistance.”

Waverly scoffed, “Yeah right. Like you’d help me. I know everything about you Bulshar. My father may be blinded by whatever charm you've cast upon him but I see right through your fake compliments. I know you’re up to something and when I get the chance to prove it, I’ll jump to the occasion!”

Bulshar, now walking closer to the throne replied, “My, my. You really are a clever girl. I really did think it would be easy to get you to like me when I first became advisor. You’re much different than other girls you know? Not easily distracted or tricked.” He now leaned closer to Waverly, only inches away from her face. “But don’t expect me to be afraid of you” he whispered, “You know that I am up to something devious, but I know your secrets too, Falcon and all. So next time you try to expose me, think again.”

He backed away, smirking, “Oh, and don’t expect me to think of this as some kind of truce. I’ll expose you and Falcon the minute I get the chance.”

“Same, same bitch” Waverly replied, “You might think you’ve got me cornered Bulshar, but this is only the beginning. I’m not afraid of your empty threats and you know it. Sure father may trust you for now but I’ll prove him wrong when I get dirt on you. Even if I have to get Falcon’s help.” 

Before either of them could say anything else, the king walked into the room. Waverly rushing out of the chair and towards her father. 

“Where have you been all day, father. I wanted to talk to you about something important.”

Her father smirked, “Something about Jeremy I presume? Have you two picked a date already?”

Waverly looked at her dad, “That actually wasn’t what I was going to talk about, but now that you bring it up, first of all please stop trying to bring in suitors for me. I want to find someone for myself. And, second, Jeremy already has someone. He told me himself.”

The king sighed, “I was afraid of that. That boy is too great to have remained available for long. But, do not fret, I will find someone else.”

“Do you not even listen!?” Waverly snapped, “I just asked you to try and keep out of my personal, love life and you act as if you didn’t even hear. Please try and understand, I don’t want to spend my life with someone I hardly know.”

“Waverly, do not waste my time. I have another meeting in a bit, so stay on topic and tell me what you wanted to ask me.” 

Waverly sighed, “Fine.” She would have to put her personal issues aside for now. Surly she’d bring them up later but she knew, the angrier her father got, the more likely he would say no to her plan to help the townspeople. 

“I went into this little town this morning. It's called Purgatory. I went because I wanted to see how our kingdom’s people were doing since it is our duty to help them. But as I looked around, I saw how awful everything was, especially the houses. We need to help. We can’t just leave them ignored and forgotten. So, I’ve decided to help. I want to take a couple of the guards and some other castle workers with me to go help rebuild Purgatory. What do you think?”

The king, looking flabbergasted with all the information that Waverly just threw at him, questioned, “Wait you went into town alone?! Waverly you could have gotten hurt! You should have told me if you wanted to visit and I would have taken you in a carriage or accompanied some guards with you. You can’t just go waltzing in there as a princess. People are evil, they’d take any chance they could to hurt someone like you.”

“Don’t worry father, I wore a disguise! No one knew it was me. But answer me, will you let me help?”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid for your sake. I know you want to travel and such so I guess some time out of the castle will do you good but what if I’m giving you too much freedom. I mean I let Wynonna go horseback riding on her own twice a week and she ended up falling for some simple minded blacksmith. I don’t want to have to deal with you rebelling against me or getting hurt.”

“Come on father, please. I promise to be careful and stick with the guards”

“If I may,” Bulshar interrupted. Waverly had completely forgotten he was standing right in behind her. “I wish you wouldn’t” she mumbled.

Bulshar ignored her and continued, “What if we make a proposition with the princess? Come to a negotiation?”

The king turned towards Bulshar, clearly intrigued, asking, “What did you have in mind Bulshar?”

“Well, the princess seems to be wanting to do this unnecessary charity project and you are afraid that she might run away with some farm boy or something, correct?”

The king nodded

“Well then what if we let her commence with her project, but, once it is complete, she has to marry the suitor we choose for her, whether she likes him or not. Both of you get what you want, right? And if you need a suitor I actually have one in mind. A friend’s son, Knight Champ Hardy. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.”

The king smiled wide, “I love this idea. And yes, of course I’ve heard of Champ! He defeated that dragon and saved that one village.”

Waverly looked at her father in disbelief, “This wasn’t supposed to be a negotiation! You need to allow me to make my own decisions father. Please don’t listen to him.”

The king raised a hand up, “My mind is made up Waverly, tell me what your decision is.”

Waverly glared at Bulshar who was giving her a sly smile, knowing he had won this round. She knew she wouldn’t be able to change the king’s mind and afraid he might not give her this chance later on, she agreed.   
“Splendid. You may go to town tomorrow and begin your project. And I will contact Knight Champ to see if he is available to possibly meet you. You should probably get to know one another.”

Turning to the door, Waverly rolled her eyes and left without answering. No one was gonna force her to marry this Champ Hardy. She had the right to marry whomever she chose. And, if worst comes to worst, she’d just elope with whatever boy.... OR girl...... she loves. 

______________________________


	3. Chapter 3

Waverly couldn’t sleep all night. She anticipated the next day, wanting the morning to come quickly so she could go to the town. Of course she was excited to help rebuild the town, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Falcon. She was flooded with thoughts. What if he comes, she thought. I wonder if he lives in the town. Maybe someone there knows him and could just direct me to him. Surely they'd tell me, even though he is sworn enemies with my dad. Maybe he’ll come in another disguise, just to hang out with me.

Waverly slowly fell asleep as she thought about the Falcon fella.

She kept waking up at night and, at the point she woke up around 5, she got up and decided to get ready. Looking through her wardrobe, she looked for something a bit comfortable. If she wanted to help she’d have to wear something a little more flexible than a dress. After browsing for a few minutes, she found an old trunk in the back and opened it, wondering what was inside. As she lifted the top, she couldn’t help but smile. This was perfect.

________________________________

Around 6:00, Waverly led her six guards to the town on horseback. They were all shook when they saw Waverly, for they’d barely ever seen her and, whenever they did, she would be in a dress. 

Waverly could clearly sense them looking. Annoyed she turned her head, “Keep your eyes in the distance, boys. Just to be clear, your stares are not flattering in the slightest. I’m not some piece of meat you can drool over.”

And with that, the guards didn’t even try looking at her. Before long, they already reached the town. Stopping her horse, Waverly saw as all the towns people brought their attention to her. They all looked nervous, compared to last time, looking as if she was here to strip them of their earnings. She was a bit confused at first but then realized and thought, "Oh right! I was dressed as Falcon back then." She wanted the people to be comfortable with her. 

As Waverly got off of her horse, she noticed one of the guards sneering at a child who wanted to pet their horse. 

“Get out of here you little rat!” He sneered.

Waverly snapped, clenching her fist. “Hey! You do not talk to the townspeople like that, you hear! And that goes for all of you! You treat them just as you treat me and my father. And if I ever catch any of you picking on anyone or showing any bit of disrespect, I'll make sure you regret it.”

With that, the guard apologized to the child and sat back straight on his horse. Waverly went to the child and leaned down, whispering, “You can pet my horse if you like. What is mine is yours.” The child smiled and ran up to her horse, petting its leg. In no time, all the kids gathered around her and the guards petting all of their horses. 

Waverly smiled at the happy children, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. She found the nearest crate and stood on top of it. “If I could kindly have everyone's attention!” She said, nearly yelling.

When everyone turned around to look and listen at her, she began:

“Hello everyone. I am Princess Waverly Earp but, if you could, please just call me Waverly. I know you are all nervous about why me and my crew may be here but, I assure you, we are here to help. A friend of mine recently brought to my attention the rough conditions of the town’s homes and shops. So, as our duty, we are here to help fix up the town. Please do not treat us as strangers, for we are people just like you. We are coming to help you and cannot wait to help better this town! You all are welcome to help us if you like but we do not ask you for anything but your support. And if you have any concerns, for instance, if one of my guards treats you unfairly, please let me know immediately. I will see to it that you get the help you require. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me and please, do not mind us, and commence with your everyday tasks. Just act as if we’re not here!”

And with that, Waverly jumped off the crate onto the ground. She was shocked when she heard a round of applause and cheering. She couldn’t help but smile. After things calmed down and everyone carried on, Waverly helped unload the carriage that had just arrived. It carried all the new wood, shingles, and everything else needed to fix up the town. They got right to work, Waverly doing just as much, if not more, work than the guards who were clearly unmotivated and wanting to go back to their castle posts. They were used to just standing around, not manual labor.   
After about an hour of working, a girl, who seemed in her late teen years, walked up to the guards and Waverly with a tray of lemonade. 

“Princess!” she yelled up at Waverly who was fixing a hole in one of the roofs. Waverly slid down the ladder, swooping right in front of the girl, startling her with her quickness. 

“I brought y’all some lemonade.” She replied, pushing the tray near Waverly.

“Thanks! And don’t call me princess please. Waverly’s fine” She replied to the girl. Grabbing a glass, she turned to the working guards, “Hey fellas! Why don’t you take 5 and enjoy some lemonade.”

Within seconds, as if they were waiting to be released, the guards ran up and each grabbed a glass each, chugging it down. 

Waverly whispered to the girl, “They aren’t used to manual labor. In all honesty, they just stand around all day “Guarding” the castle.” She backed away a bit and took a swing of the lemonade, “Anyways, what’s your name?”

“Rachel” the girl replied, “I’m working at the pub around the corner. I saw y’all working all morning and even heard your little speech. Pretty nice of you to do all this for us.” 

“It's the least we can do” Waverly replied as she chugged the last of her lemonade. “My father’s been ignoring your needs long enough. About time things change around here.”

“Wait, how’d you even realize we needed your help? I would have known if you came to check out the town earlier?” 

Waverly was left confused and conflicted. She thought, "Should I tell her I know about Falcon? Surely she wouldn’t tell anyone right? I mean these towns people already keep him hidden."

She pulled Rachel a little further away from the guards who were still standing around, talking to one another. 

“Actually, the truth is, I kinda, sorta know Falcon. He’s the one who told me about the town and its rough conditions. I couldn’t just sit around knowing you guys needed us.”

Rachel’s jaw dropped. She clearly was not expecting that answer. “Wait you know Falcon? How come you didn’t turn him in. Isn’t he your dad’s worst enemy or something?” 

“Yeah, but I got to know him. And he’s actually a pretty sweet guy.” Waverly paused, blushing, looking down at her boots and pushing a loose hair behind her ear. “Actually, I was hoping to meet him here today. Do you know where I could find him?”

Rachel rubbed her chin, “Sorry dude, I can’t help you out with that, no one knows where he lives or who he is.” 

Waverly sighed, her fears coming true.

“But” Rachel started, causing Waverly to look up at Rachel in hope. “If anyone were to know anything, it’d probably be Nichole Haught. Rumor has it, she and him actually have a thing going on.” Rachel said as she raised her eyebrows.

Haught? Damn Waverly had some competition. Waverly could feel herself getting jealous. She had never felt this way. Why was she feeling like this? She barely even knew Falcon and, hell, she didn’t even know this Nichole person. She could be the sweetest person on the planet for all she knew. 

“W...where could I find this Nichole?” She asked as Rachel began collecting the glasses from all the guards.

“Probably near the well in the woods. She normally goes there around this time to get some water or just chill out really. The town’s pretty tough on her if you ask me. She’s a bit...different.” 

Before Wavely could ask why Nichole was seen as "different", Rachel had already started to gather the cups. After getting the last cup from Waverly, Rachel said her farewells, having to get back to work and headed back to the pub. 

“Alright fellas, enough chit-chat, let's get back to work” Waverly commanded as the guards gathered their tools and headed back to work. 

Waverly stayed back. Of course she wanted to help but she was just far too interested in meeting this Nichole person.

_________________________________

Nichole was sitting on the broken farm fence, watching Calamity as she ran through the fields. Nichole couldn’t help but think of Waverly. "She said she was gonna help the town but it's been a few days and she hasn’t even come. What if it was all just a ploy to distract me. What if she really does get me arrested the next time I go to the tower?"

Nichole decided she would only take up the princess’ offer if she began rebuilding the town. That'd be enough to prove that she actually cares about the townspeople. With that, Nichole whistled, calling Calamity back into the stables and filling her water trough.

As she headed back, she heard some rustling in the bushes. She thought, "What the hell? Shit. No one’s supposed to come this far into the woods. Everyone knows these parts of the woods are haunted. No one would dare."

As she walked closer to the rustling sound, hoping to lure whoever it was away from the stables, she heard a familiar voice. 

“Hello?” it asked. That voice, she thought, It sounds so familiar. Shit, why do I feel so nervous. Who the hell is it. 

Lost in thought, Nichole didn’t notice anything until she was surprised with a mysterious person tripping and falling right on top of her. She fell back hard, the person right on her. The figure’s long hair draped over her face, Nichole opened her eyes to find a beautiful face looking right back at her. “Waverly?” Nichole blurted out loud, thinking she had hit her head too hard, causing her to see things. Waverly’s breath got faster the minute she heard her name. Her breath hitting right on top of Nichole’s lips. God I could kiss her, Nichole thought. 

“N..Nichole?” 

Nichole was released from the trance when she heard her name from Waverly’s beautiful lips. 

“Wait, what?” Nichole responded, rubbing her head and watching as Waverly struggled to get up. 

Finally getting up, Waverly brushed herself off as Nichole still stared at her in disbelief. She was even more beautiful than before. Her outfit, leaving Nichole speechless. She was wearing a white long sleeve shirt with a black vest and black pants. Her boots were brownish and old looking, but even then, she made them work very well. She looked like a medieval tavern man. Actually, a sexy medieval tavern woman. 

“Wait how did you know my name?” Waverly asked as Nichole collected herself. 

Shit. Nichole tried to think, not knowing what to say. “I…..uh...I...c..could ask you the same thing!” She blurted in relief. 

“Oh, um, well a..actually I was sort of looking for you. Your friend, Rachel, told me you would be here.”

Did the princess figure out she was the Falcon? Was that why she came here? But how could have she figured it out? Unless...shit did Xavier tell? No, he wouldn't. He would never.

“W..why were you looking for me?” Nichole finally asked, not knowing what else to say. 

“Well, it's actually a funny story” Waverly began. “I actually met your friend Falcon in the castle and was hoping to meet him again. So, when me and my crew came to fix up the town this morning, I asked this girl, Rachel, if she knew where he was. And she told me that he was dating you so you’d probably know. But don’t worry! I’m not trying to steal your boyfriend from you or anything, I..I just wanted to meet him and catch up, you know?”

Nichole could barely take in any of the information. All she could think was, "She actually came! Oh my god she does care! Wait, hold up, Falcon’s my boyfriend now?"

“No!” Nichole quickly exclaimed, Waverly looking at her confused, “I’m not in any way romantically involved with Falcon. I barely even know the guy. He just helps out the town, that's all. People just like to spread rumors. And, it would never work out anyway, I mean I want nothing to do with guys. Hate em. I only date girls, like you! That's all."

Whoops. That last part was not planned. What the fuck did she just do. Great, now Waverly wouldn’t even want to hang out with her anymore. She’s probably gonna think of her as some kind of weirdo. 

To Nichole’s surprise, Waverly was still there, smiling at her. “Oh, good to know!” Waverly replied. 

Nichole backed away a bit in disbelief. She couldn't help herself and had to ask:

“Wait... you’re not weirded out or anything. I mean it's not really accepted to be attracted to the same sex as you. It's actually pretty discouraged, if not banned at all. And no one in town knows, not even my dad. I’d probably be kicked out if anyone did find out…I...I really don’t even know why I told you, it just came out. Kinda nervous talking to the princess you know?”

Waverly looked up at her, eye in eye. “Nichole Haught” Waverly started, holding on to Nichole’s hand, causing jitters all over Nichole’s body. “You do not weird me out at all. You are welcome to be whoever you wish to be and, if anyone tells you otherwise, you let me know. I’ll deal with them and set them straight”, Waverly finished by making a little fist, imitating a fake punch and smiling. 

Nichole couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, I’m glad we have such an open minded princess to lead us. Truth be told, I thought you’d be a snob. Bossing people around. Being all bratty and screaming at us simpletons.”

“Hey!” Waverly said, punching Nichole in the arm, “Don’t listen to stereotypes. You seemed better than that Nichole Haught” 

Nichole smiled, “Sorry, sorry. I guess I’m not as open minded and accepting as you, princess.” 

“Don’t call me that. I don’t like it. Call me Waverly please.”

Nichole felt warm inside. She couldn’t get over the fact of how sweet the princess was. How kind and gentle her words were, not at all as Nichole had imagined. It was kind of relieving knowing there was someone cool and chill like her looking over the kingdom, even if Waverly’s father was really the one in control.

“Fine.” Nichole replied. “But I think Waves suits you better. What do you think? Can I call you that?”

Waverly smiled, “My mother used to call me that. I haven’t heard it in years. I love it!”

It got a bit quiet after that. Nichole and her stood there in silence for what felt like an eternity. Nichole looked down at Waverly’s hand still holding on to hers. "She was just friendly," Nichole thought. "Probably just holding on so she doesn’t get lost in the woods...even if we are just standing in place."

“Anyways” Waverly began, breaking the silence, “I know I should probably get back to work with the guards, but I really want a tour of the town. Care to show me around, Nichole?”

“Me?” Nichole asked in disbelief, no one had actually ever wanted to hang out with her. Everyone just thought she was the town weirdo, wearing trousers and all. 

“Of course, silly. Unless you have another Nichole in mind. Oh! Or, if you’re busy, that's ok too. I don’t want to be a bother.”

“No, no, not at all. I would love to give you a tour. I was just shocked you wanted to hang out with someone like me.” Nichole replied, pointing at her trousers and shirt. 

“Well, looks like we have a lot in common when it comes to our taste in working clothes” Waverly answered back, pointing at her outfit. 

Nichole chuckled and began walking, letting go of Waverly’s hand, “Well then, Waves, let's give you a tour of the town, there's not much to see, but I bet you’d find it pretty different then what you’re used to.”

Waverly smiled, catching up to Nichole and putting her hand back into Nichole’s, catching her off guard., “Well Nichole Haught, I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

_____________________________________

“And that's about it. That’s every nook and cranny of the town. What do you think?” Nichole asked as Waverly and her walked, still holding hands. Waverly kind of liked holding Nichole’s hand. Usually she didn’t really like holding someone’s sweaty palm or, really, being touched at all. But Nichole’s was different. It made her feel safe and at home. She never really felt this way, even when she was at home. Nichole was pretty homely in general. She didn’t act cocky or try to impress her just because she was the princess. It felt as if they had known each other for years.

“It was really nice. So….. what's the word? Cozy! Yeah, I feel at home here more than I ever have at the palace, and I’ve only been here for a day. I can’t even imagine how I’d feel after spending my time here and getting to know everyone!” Waverly answered, squeezing Nichole’s hand. 

Waverly saw Nichole wince a bit. “Sorry!, I didn’t mean to hurt you! It's just that I’m already so in love with this town and just wish I could stay here. And, I mean, the company’s not too bad either.”

Waverly looked at Nichole, curious about what she might say about that last comment. Nichole smiled, “The pleasure’s all mine Waves. And, believe me, you would be much better in that castle of yours. Town life is pretty hard. But you and your crew are bringing some light into our lives with your generosity.”

Waverly didn’t even realize they had already walked into town and were right where she had left her guards. The guards had started packing up their things and getting the horses ready to get back to work. 

“Hey guys! Why are you packing up? We’re not done already.” 

A guard walked up to the princess and bowed, “Your majesty, it's 6:00 PM. Your father had instructed us to bring you back by 7:00. We won’t make it on time unless we head on out soon.”

Six already! God she didn’t know she had spent the whole day with Nichole. She turned to Nichole. “Oh my god I spent the whole day with you and didn’t even notice. Jeez Nichole Haught you really are pretty good company. It felt like I’d only hung out with you for an hour or so. I didn’t even get to finish the roof I was working on. God I’m never gonna finish at this rate.” Waverly couldn’t decide. Of course she wanted to help build the houses but she also wanted to spend some time to get to know Nichole. Sure she had spent hours with her, but there was so much she still didn’t know

Nichole chuckled, “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to distract you. Tell you what. Since I’m the reason you didn’t get any work done, I’ll help you all day tomorrow. We’ll call it even.” 

Waverly couldn’t help but smile. “Yes!..I..I mean, if you could, that'd be wonderful.” she replied, trying to keep her cool. 

“Sounds good. I gotta go now. Gotta milk some cows before sundown but see you tomorrow around 7:00. Probably near Shorty’s pub.” Nichole finished, letting go of Waverly’s hand. A chilly gust of wind hit her sweaty, warm palm, leaving it in the cold. She felt a shiver travel down her spine, as if she had let go of something precious. 

Shaking it off, she waved at Nichole who was already a few feet ahead, heading to the barn. Nichole turned to wave back and with that, she was gone. Waverly couldn’t help but stare until Nichole had gone into the barn, out of Waverly’s sight. 

She turned to get on her horse, lost in thought as she rode home. “Anything the trouble princess. You seem quieter than before” Xavier asked. He had come a bit later to accompany and supervise the guards as they worked. 

“No, nothing at all” she replied, knowing that there was something, she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

__________________________

Nichole couldn’t sleep that night. Excited to see Waverly the next day. Waiting for the sun to rise so she could quickly do her chores and have nothing come in the way of her time with Waverly.

She was lost in thought. "God she spent the entire day with me. That has to mean something, right? But I already told her that I was attracted to girls and surely she would have told me if she was the same. Maybe she likes Falcon, I mean she only did come to meet me to get info on him. What if she only talked to her to see if she would blurt out any secrets about them? Damn it, she was probably being used the whole time and she didn’t even know it. How could she though, when only those beautiful hazel eyes could sweep her off her feet."

Nichole kept creating scenarios about what to talk to Waverly about tomorrow, making sure she wouldn’t bore the princess to death. As she imagined what tomorrow would look like, she slowly fell asleep. 

______________________________

Waverly brushed her hair as she was getting ready for bed. Funny how yesterday she was thinking about Falcon while sitting here and today, all she could think about was Nichole. She really was beautiful and so kind. Waverly was excited to meet her again tomorrow. There was something about that girl but Waverly just couldn’t put her finger on it. 

She looked out the window, hoping maybe Falcon would come. Maybe he’d be able to tell her a bit more about Nichole. Oh and, of course, she wanted to see him again. She had been waiting to meet and talk to him a bit too, ask him about the towns people. 

She got up and walked to her bed, grabbing her blankets and hiding under them. I guess the faster I sleep, the faster tomorrow will come. And with that she was fast asleep. 

_______________________________

Nichole woke up with a raging migraine, thinking, "Shit. I should have slept a bit earlier. God, Waverly what are you doing to me?"

She got up, seeing the sun had already risen, she went up running to the sundial clock she had in the backyard. It was 7:30 AM. “Damn it Haught! You’re late!” she screamed at herself, rushing to get ready, quickly grabbing a faded navy flannel. "The one day you need to wake up early you decide to get up late. Great, Waverly’s gonna think I blew her off, she probably started working already." 

Running out the door and to the bar, she looked around, seeing Waverly nowhere. 

“Hey Rachel!” Nichole yelled from the bar doors to the counter Rachel was working at. 

“What do you want Haught! Its to early for drinks! Your dad told me not to serve you until, after 6. You know how you get!” Rachel replied, spitting into a beer mug and wiping it clean.

“I don’t wanna a beer. Have you seen Waves anywhere?”

Rachel put the mug down, walking towards Nichole.

“Waves...Waves… Who the hell is…..OH! Oh my god you’re talking about the princess! Wait, you have a pet name for her? Damn Haught, you work fast.” Rachel said, winking at Nichole.

“NO! No...you have it all wrong.” Nichole replied, feeling herself blush. “I was just supposed to help her fix up someone’s roof. We were supposed to meet here.”

“Sureeee. I saw her pacing around the front of the bar but didn’t have time to go ask her what she was waiting for. She was actually there since 6:30, seemed pretty stressed out, kinda disappointed if you ask me.” 

"Damn it", Nichole whispered. Waverly finally thought of her as a friend and she...she just left her there. All alone. Probably feeling unwanted. 

“Ok thanks! I'm gonna go find her! Bye!” Nichole said, rushing out of the bar and heading towards the area Waverly was working on the day before. "God I hope she’s not mad."

_______________________________

Waverly had climbed back up on the bakery roof she was fixing up. She had been excited to meet Nichole all morning. Wearing another one of her new favorite work outfits and everything, trying to look presentable. She didn’t know why, but she felt the need to dress up today. She had even left the palace early with the guards so she wouldn’t be late to meet Nichole.

She was disappointed when Nichole didn’t show. She had waited for her till 7:10, but had to get back to work, knowing that the roof wasn’t going to fix itself. She told herself, "No more distractions Waverly. Who cares about Nichole. She probably has something better to do than fix up roofs with you."

She was nailing the roof when she saw a familiar redhead rushing towards the bakery. Kinda mad, she thought to herself, "Oh so now she decided to show up." Distracted, she didn’t even notice she was still hammering until the hammer missed the nail and hit her thumb. Letting out a scream she quickly stood up, holding up her now bloody thumb, grabbing a rag and putting pressure on it. 

She saw as Nichole's face fill with concern and watched as she began running even faster to assist her. As Nichole began to climb, Waverly noticed as one of the guards blocked her from coming up on the roof. 

She could hear Nichole argue. “Come on, dude! What do you mean I can’t help her! Look she’s clearly in pain and I doubt any of you have any expertise in treating labor wounds. All you guys do is stand around that god damn castle!” 

Waverly winced in pain, whispering in a low voice, “Let her through Xavier”. The guard immediately got out of Nichole’s way, letting her through. 

Nichole slowly approached her, “Waves, let me see” she whispered, bringing her hand close to the thumb. 

“Why didn’t you come” was all Waverly could ask, her eyes watery and her voice cracking. She had no control over her words.

“Sorry, I...I overslept. I came rushing to the bar but you weren’t there so I figured you would be here and, well, here I am.” Nichole answered, her voice calm and gentle. “Ok look, your hand is seriously bleeding, I have a first aid kit at home, can I take you there and maybe fix you up?”   
Waverly thought about it but eventually nodded, climbing down the ladder, Xavier beginning to follow. “Please stay here and work Xavier. I should be fine, I...I have Nichole with me.” 

“As you wish” he replied, walking back to the other guards and commencing to work. 

_______________________________

Nichole couldn’t help but feel responsible for Waverly’s injury. She figured the least she could do was help bandage it so Waverly could get back to work. It didn’t take them long to get to Nichole’s house. About a five minute walk. As they arrived, Nichole held the door open and let Waverly in. 

She knew her house wasn’t much, nothing compared to the castle, but it was her quaint little home. She had grown up here and she loved it no matter what Waverly would think of it. 

“I like your house,” Waverly said, walking into the house. Nichole smiled, raising one eyebrow, grabbing the first aid kit from the cupboard. “Really?” she asked, knowing Waverly was just being nice. 

“You know, friends don’t lie. Even if they wanna be nice. It's okay if you think my house is crappy, Waves. I mean, you're a princess who comes from a literal castle. I wouldn’t find it offensive.” She kneeled down close to Waverly, who was now sitting in a chair near the kitchen. Pulling out a few antibiotics and bandages. 

Waverly scoffed, clearly a bit irritated, “Well friends also don’t ditch their friends after saying they’d be somewhere at a specific tim….OW!” Waverly screamed as Nichole washed her wound. Nichole couldn’t believe it. Waverly was actually mad at her for coming a bit late. 

She couldn’t stop herself. “Well princess, not everyone is as lucky as you, having like 50 guards waking you up. Oh, or actually, you probably have a human alarm clock.”

Nichole finished up Waverly’s bandaid, seeing her face turn red, “For your information, Nichole Haught, I do not have an alarm clock. I know when to wake up and don’t over sleep. I am responsible and don't make promises I can’t keep.” 

Nichole, now standing up and a bit furious, couldn’t believe it. How could Waverly compare her life to the lives of her and the other townspeople. She nearly yelled, “Well guess what, princess, people here can’t just go to sleep at 8:00 pm and call it a day. We have chores and work to do and, because of you and your “tour of the town”, I was behind all day yesterday. I did all my chores for today so I could spend the whole goddamn day with you Waverly! I went to bed at 4:00 AM because of all that!” 

Nichole knew she was getting out of line right after saying those words. She had just yelled at the princess. She could literally be executed for this. Not knowing what to say, she just looked down at her boots. Waverly was probably gonna leave her. Never talk to her again because of this stupid argument.

Nichole expected her to get up and leave, leaving the townsfolk, stopping the construction, all because of her. 

She was surprised, however, as she saw Waverly get up and pull her face towards her. She placed her forehead right on Nichole’s and started, “You went to bed at 4. Just so you could spend the day with me? God, I’m sorry, Nichole. I should have understood. I don’t know how town life works and probably never will. It was my fault for thinking you were just laying around all day.”

Nichole could barely focus. Waverly’s lips so close to hers. She could feel the breath of each word on her lips as Waverly was apologizing. “I..I’m sorry too. It all just got out of hand.” Nichole rambled, “ I was already pissed at myself for waking up late and then you got hurt and then that guard, uhhh, that stupid guard, when he blocked me from seeing you it just made me so angry. All the anger just built up and I let it out on you. I shouldn’t have let that happen.” Nichole sighed. 

“Its ok,” Waverly answered, finally pulling her head away from Nichole’s. Had she stayed close a minute longer, Nichole knew she would have kissed her on impulse. “I do wish, though, that I could live like a towny just for one day” Waverly said, walking towards the door. 

“Ha! You wouldn’t last a day” Nichole teased, hoping she wasn’t being offensive or anything. 

Waverly turned to look at Nichole, her beautiful hair flowing along with her. “Is that a challenge?” she asked in a voice that sounded so curious but kinda sexy at the same time. 

Nichole was left speechless, not being able to say anything. Clearly Waverly took her silence as an answer. “Fine” she replied, “Tomorrow, I’ll be your little worker girl. You can make me do whatever you want and I’ll do it without question. Think of it as a Yes Day.”

“God, the things I wanna make you do.” Nichole mumbled.

“What was that?” Waverly asked, looking as if she had overheard.

“I said, alright”, Nichole improvised, “We’ll see how long you can handle it.” 

Waverly smiled, opening the front door, “Aren’t you coming to help?” She asked.

“Yeah of course” Nichole answered, rushing to get her stetson hat and catching up with Waverly. Waverly grabbed her hand, “Well let's get to work buddy. And tell me a bit about yourself. I wanna hear all about you.”

No one had ever asked Nichole to talk about herself. It was new, but it sure did feel nice. Getting back up on the roof, they began working and Nichole started, “Well, lets start from the very beginning. My mom passed away right after giving birth to me, so I was raised by my dad.” Nichole leaned closer to Waverly and whispered, “Could be the reason why I’m into girls rather than guys.” 

Waverly chuckled, and, right at that moment, Nichole knew she loved…...hanging out with her. Yeah….that sounds about right.

_____________________________


	4. Chapter 4

Waverly could see the sun was going down as her and Nichole were loading up the tools and wood in the carriage, parking it in the barn for safe keeping till morning. They stood in the barn, dusting their clothes off.

“Well, Waves, sorry to say, but looks like it's time for you to go. Gotta rest up for tomorrow. You’re gonna be doing A LOT of chores. Believe me, I’m gonna try to take as much advantage of you as possible. It's not everyday someone offers to do my chores.” 

Waverly could see the sun was going down as her and Nichole were loading up the tools and wood in the carriage, parking it in the barn for safe keeping till morning. They stood in the barn, dusting their clothes off.

“Well, Waves, sorry to say, but looks like it's time for you to go. Gotta rest up for tomorrow. You’re gonna be doing A LOT of chores. Believe me, I’m gonna try to take as much advantage of you as possible. It's not everyday someone offers to do my chores.” 

Waverly could see the sun was going down as her and Nichole were loading up the tools and wood in the carriage, parking it in the barn for safe keeping till morning. They stood in the barn, dusting their clothes off.

“Well, Waves, sorry to say, but looks like it's time for you to go. Gotta rest up for tomorrow. You’re gonna be doing A LOT of chores. Believe me, I’m gonna try to take as much advantage of you as possible. It's not everyday someone offers to do my chores.” 

_God she could take advantage of me any day....wait, wtf did i just think?_ Waverly quickly got out of her head. She really didn’t wanna leave, she liked hanging out with Nichole. “Aw, I wish I didn’t have to go. I just wanna sleep here, in town, maybe stargaze a bit or something. You know, kinda like a sleepover.” 

Nichole, fixing up some of the boards in the carriage, turned around, “A sleepover, huh? Can’t say I’ve ever had one.” 

Waverly, mouth open, replied, “Nichole Haught! Are you telling me you’ve never had a sleepover before?!” 

“That's literally what I just said” Nichole chuckled. “I’m just not a fan of sleeping at someone’s house, that's all. I like my bed and my room. And, besides, I never really had a lot of friends as a kid. Kinda the odd one out you know? Dressing differently, acting like a dude. Not really what girls want to be friends with.” 

Waverly couldn’t help but frown a bit. Walking closer to Nichole, she pulled her away from the wagon, holding both of her hands with both of hers. “Well I’m a girl and I’d wanna be no one’s friend but yours. You’re unique. And I like that.”

Without thought, Waverly put her arms around Nichole’s neck. Feeling a weird buzz through her body as she noticed how close she was to Nichole’s lips. _Why was she thinking about her lips?_

Shaking her feelings off again, she had a brilliant idea. “Since I’m gonna be super tired from working all day tomorrow, I’ll be too lazy to ride my horse aaaaaaalllllllll the way to the castle. So, I'll have no choice but to have a sleepover with you, and, believe me, I’ve had plenty. We could stargaze, maybe go on a little midnight horse ride or a hike…”

“I thought you’d be too tired”, Nichole smirked. Waverly felt an intense feeling as she saw Nichole’s smile. She really was beautiful. Her dimples popped as she smiled, working well with the stetson hat on her head. Waverly couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous at that moment. It was a good nervous though, everything felt so....exhilarating. She kinda wanted to lean a bit closer...

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

Hearing the sound against the barn door, Waverly felt Nichole jump back, away from her. Waverly couldn’t help but feel a bit upset. 

It was the guard, Xavier. “Its time to go princess,” he said, poking only his head inside. 

Waverly sighed, “Coming.” 

Waverly noticed Nichole rushing next to her, walking her out. “So tomorrow, right? The sleepover’s tomorrow?”

Waverly smirked, getting up on her horse with Nicholes help, “My god Nichole. I didn’t think you’d be this excited for the sleepover. Thought you wouldn’t care for it.” 

She could see Nichole blush. It made her feel warm. She liked this side of Nichole. She could tell everyone in town thought Nichole was this rough and tough girl who didn’t give a shit about anyone but, to her, Nichole showed a different side. A nicer side. Really, she was just a big, old teddy bear.

“Fine. I admit, I am a bit excited.” she leaned closer to Waverly’s horse, “But don’t you dare tell anyone. I've got a rep to keep.” 

“Wouldn't dream of it” Waverly leaned down and whispered back. Feeling a knot in her stomach as she realized how close she was to Nichole. 

Saying their goodbyes, Waverly was off, turning around after a few feet to see Nichole, standing there, watching her leave. She couldn’t help but smile. _God what’s happening to me?_

___________________________________

Nichole rushed home, a spring in her step. She couldn’t stop smiling. A sleepover. God a sleepover with the most wonderful, amazing person she ever met. God she liked her...like, like liked her. 

She never felt this way about anyone, not even Rosita. They just had a little summer fling thing but, this, this was definitely different. 

Rushing to the pub, she bought some drinks and snacks for tomorrow’s sleepover, wanting to be able to provide whatever she could with the little money she had. _Oh right. She still had to go steal some stuff from the castle for the people. Maybe she’d go the night after tomorrow. She wouldn’t miss tomorrow night for the world._

After getting out of the pub, she went home. Her dad was on some trip to sell some of his crops and such. He wouldn’t be home for a couple of weeks and definitely wouldn’t mind her having some company. It wasn’t like he knew she was into girls. 

After eating dinner and cleaning up a bit for tomorrow, Nichole went to bed, knowing she couldn’t oversleep. Tomorrow was gonna be the best day ever and she didn’t wanna miss a minute of it. Waverly was just so amazing. So, so amazing….

_________________________________________

“Father!”, Waverly called out, walking into the throne room as she came home. 

Her dad, sitting and talking with Bulshar. _Of course it's Bulshar._ The king turned to look at Waverly. “Waverly, my dear, I’ve been meaning to talk to you and ask about your little project. But first, by god, what on earth are you wearing? You look like a little peasant boy. And, oh my god, and what happened to your thumb!” 

Waverly couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle, knowing her dad had no idea what it was like in the town. No idea what it was like hanging out with someone like Nichole. “It's amazing, father! I love being able to contribute to the town. I’ve made so many new friends and went through so many new experiences. And, as for the outfit, I kinda like it. It makes me feel as if I’m not just some little flower to be hidden away in the castle. And my friend really likes it so...why not? Oh and I hammered my thumb by accident. No worries though. My friend fixed me up right away.”

Her father continued to stare at her, trying to take in everything she had just said. “Well I’m glad you like it. But I've been meaning to tell you. You can’t go tomorrow though, we have plans you cannot miss. Sir Champ is coming to the kingdom. I intend to get you two acquainted, seeing he is your soulmate.” 

_Shit. Waverly had totally forgotten about her side of the bargain. Soulmate? They couldn’t just throw that word around life confetti. They didn’t get to decide who was her soulmate. That was up to her._

“Father, I can’t tomorrow. Maybe some other time. I promised to help out a friend in town and can’t back out now. I was actually here to let you know that i’d be staying the night over at their place tomorrow,” 

“Over my dead body!” Her father stood up from his throne, face all red. “Waverly, I let you do this little project so you could get a bit of time outside before you’re married off, not to make friends. This is exactly why I didn’t want to give you any freedom to begin with, I knew it would get out of hand. And who is this friend of yours? It better not be some peasant boy. I warned you not to fall for some simpleton in town. Your sister might have gotten away with it but I won’t let another one of my daughters ruin their lives!”

Waverly scoffed, “Father, you can’t just assume my friend is a boy just because they help me around town and hang out with me. God you are so narrow minded! I have to go tomorrow, I can’t leave Nichole. She’s going to think I ditched her! She’d be heart broken.”

“My dear” Bulshar began, receiving a disgusted look from Waverly, “I’m sure this Nichole person will be fine. She’d understand you had to stay to meet the love of your life. I’m sure she herself fools around with plenty of peasant boys. She wouldn’t mind”

Waverly felt a flood of jealousy and disgust. Waverly, angered at what Bulshar just said, couldn't help but yell back, “Nichole isn’t like that! She is wonderful and...and wants to hang out with me! She doesn’t act all cool and nor does she try to impress me. She’s not fake like that and you, out of all people, have no right to talk about her!” 

Waverly didn’t know why she bursted out like that. _Nichole was a good person, that’s all. And Bulshar was awful, he deserved to be yelled at. That was all, right?_

“Waverly'' her father began, “It doesn't matter who Nichole is or what she's like. All I’m saying is that, if you want to go out anymore, you have to stay here tomorrow. Or else your little project is done. Do you understand.”

“But…” 

“No buts. Go to bed and get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow. I’m sure your friend will be fine and can use your help some other day.”

With that, Waverly stomped out of the room, knowing her privilege was at risk, not wanting the king from banning her from seeing Nichole. Not that she would follow her father’s orders. _She’d meet with Nichole in secret. Yeah! She wouldn’t let anyone come in between her and Nichole! And that sleepover will happen! Even if it's not tomorrow._

She walked into her room and fell on her bed. She layed and thought about why she was so attached to Nichole. _Why she felt the urge to see her tomorrow. Why she got butterflies just by thinking about her? Why she felt as if she could spend hours just staring at her. What was happening here?_ She was so confused and conflicted. _Why hadn’t she felt like this before?_ Shaking it off and shutting her eyes, she fell into a deep sleep, kinda wanting to dream of Nichole.

______________________________

Waverly was awakened by a knock on the door. Getting up and looking out at the window, it was still dark. Probably around 5:00 AM. Pulling her blanket over her head, she yelled, “Come back in an hour!” 

She heard the door open. Feeling someone grab her blanket, she felt a gust of wind when the person pulled it off. She looked up. It was Kate, her lady in waiting. 

“My princess! What on earth are you wearing! I leave for only a month and come to find you dressed up as some sort of peasant boy!” Oh right. Waverly had been too tired to change into her nightgown. She had just gone to bed like this, boots and all. 

“This is gonna take more work than I expected. Come, come. Get up now, we have to get you ready before your knight in shining armour comes. He wants a princess, not a tiny cute man for a wife.” 

“Oh god don’t remind me” Waverly groaned, putting the pillow on her head.

“Oh dear. What seems to be the problem princess. I expected you to be much happier. Sir Champ is known to be quite the catch. I hear he’s handsome, muscular, and super popular. Every girl wants to marry him. You should feel lucky he chose you.” 

“Is that all that matters?” Waverly asked. “Looks and fame? What about personality? What about that feeling you’re supposed to get when you hear their name? That feeling of nervousness but excitement. The feeling when you hear them say your name. That feeling when you get close to them and feel as if....as if you two are the only people in the room.” 

Kate was left speechless, blinking at Waverly’s little speech. “My word Waverly Earp! You’re in love. Oh god, of course you can’t give your heart to Champ! Someone has already stolen it! Tell me, who is it.” 

Waverly mumbled, “I...I don’t know” 

“Clearly you do. You know the feeling and only one who's fallen in love can describe it with that kind of passion. Think and tell me, who makes you feel this way?”

Waverly didn’t have to think. She knew exactly who made her feel this way. Was that really what love is? Nah, that was friendship right, nothing serious. 

“Kate, it's no one. Jeremy actually found the love of his life. He defined it for me when I asked him to. That's how I know.” 

Kate gave her a look of suspicion, “Hmmm...whatever you say princess. Anyways, we better get to work. You need a little TLC. Remind me never to take a vacation. Clearly you can’t handle yourself.”

Waverly giggled, “I missed you, Kate”

….

With the corset tightened and a new beautiful gown put on, Kate finished brushing Waverly’s hair and putting it in a pretty little bun. “There. You look beautiful. No wonder Champ chose to marry you rather than all the other girls.”

Waverly sighed, looking at herself in the mirror of the dresser. “That's the problem. He got to choose. No one even asked me. No one cared if I chose him.”

Before Kate could say anything, a knock was heard at the door. A guard walked in. “Sir Champ is here and would like Princess Waverly to meet his acquaintance.”

Waverly mumbled, “Oh really. Well I’d like to kick him in the..” 

“Hush” Kate interrupted. “She’ll be down in a bit.”

When the guard left , Kate questioned, “What is it with you. Give the bloke a chance, he might not be as bad as you think.”

Oh he was worse than she thought. As Waverly walked into the library where her father and Sir Champ were sitting, he looked straight at her, licking his lips. _Disgusting._

Her father, not noticing Champ’s actions, quickly got up. “My dear, meet your forever mate, Sir Champ Hardy. Now, I know he is a busy man so I will leave you to at it so you may converse and get to know one another before he has to go.” And with that he was gone, leaving her in yet another awkward meeting with a potential suitor. _Any chance he was gay? Probably not._

As Waverly walked to the sofa furthest from Champ, he wolf whistled, “Wow. I heard the Earp princess was beautiful but I didn’t know she was this sexy.”

Waverly turned red. She wasn’t blushing, she was filled with rage. _How could she be with someone so narrow minded and sexist._ She decided she would just stay quiet, hoping he might get bored and just leave. That didn’t happen.

“So” he began, “What do you like most about me? My perfect chin? My bulging muscles? My handsome face?”

“Definitely not your narcissistic personality” she mumbled. 

“What was that?” He asked. She ignored him. He got up, walking to the loveseat sofa she was sitting at. Plopping himself next to her, he smiled. “I’ll sit here so I can hear you better.” 

He began moving a little too close for comfort. He put his hand on hers and began slowly tracing it up her arm, giving her a terrible chill, nothing sexy or seductive about it. It just made her hate him more. 

He neared his head to her neck. “You know” he whispered, “I like a lady who holds her tongue. Lets her husband do all the talking and difficult brainwork”

_Brainwork!_

“That's it!” she yelled, getting up from the sofa, Champ getting startled and standing with her. 

“I thought I could just ignore you until you left but this isn’t working! You’re just a sexist narcissistic asshole who thinks he can just have what he wants! God you’re worse than I thought you’d be!”

To her surprise, Champ smirked, “Damn, you look even sexier when you’re mad. Why don’t you and I shut the door and embrace our feelings, really let it out. We can figure out if we’re, you know, compatible.”

 _The nerve._ Waverly couldn’t believe this guy was still trying to make a move on her. As he began to lean closer, possibly for a kiss, Waverly clenched her fist and punched Champ right in the mouth, to her surprise, chipping one of his perfect teeth. 

“My..my tooth!” He yelled. “You bitch!” He grabbed her hands, pulling her closer to his body. “I know you did that just to piss me off so I’d leave you for some other hot babe, but this...this is just the beginning. I will be king. I will be the “love of your life” and, just for this," he continued, now pointing to his tooth, "I’m gonna make sure I make your life a living hell. No matter what you may do or say, I own you now. Your father and I already set a wedding date and everything. You just wait and watch Waverly Earp, I’ll get you for this.” And with that he stormed out, leaving Waverly alone in thought. _Shit. what had she gotten herself into._

________________________

Nichole paced around the pub. _God where is she? It's 8 already. She’s never late, she’s always here by 7, if not earlier. Did she chicken out? Did she think we were getting too close. God, I knew that moment in the barn felt a bit too intimate. I shouldn’t have let her put her arms over my neck like that._

Nichole saw Rosita in the corner of her eye, walking up to her. 

“Hey Nichole, what are you doing? You’ve been pacing around here for the past hour. Is something wrong?”

_Could she tell Rosita about her feelings? I mean they weren’t a thing anymore and she really was the only one in town who knew she was attracted to women. It's not like she would tell._

She chickened out. “It’s...it's nothing,” Nichole replied, with a sigh.

“It’s Waverly isn’t it?” Rosita asked, tilting her head a bit.

Nichole, shocked, pulled Rosita aside, into the alley next to the bar. “How’d you know? I didn’t tell anyone”

Rosita crossed her arms around her chest. “Dude it's pretty obvious. You literally spend every possible minute you can with her. You either do all your work early at like 4 in the morning or stay up late, just so you can hang out with her.” 

Nichole didn’t know it was that obvious, “D..does anyone else know?” she asked in fear of being kicked out of town, left alone. 

“Of course not. No one gives a shit about you, anyways. They just think you’re the weird girl who’s like besties with the princess for some reason.”

Nichole sighed with relif, “I’m just worried. She’s always here on time and she..she promised to help me around with some chores. She wanted to prove she could do some town work too. Wanted to prove she was strong enough." Nichole smiled, recalling how cute Waverly looked when she was all competitive. "A...and we were kinda, sorta supposed to have a sleepover.”

“The princess agreed to sleep with you! And you didn’t tell me!” Rosita exclaimed a little too loudly.

“Wait, what? Shhhh! NO! A regular sleepover like sleeping under the stars, just hanging out, you know?”

“Oh. You had me impressed for a second. I mean, I know you’re good but didn’t know you were that good. Anyways, believe me. She didn’t ditch you because….well...because you’re you. I can tell she likes you too. I mean, otherwise, she would have tried to avoid you or something. But she always holds your hand, gets all close to you. If I was still with you, Nichole, the way she acts around you would make me pretty jealous.”

Nichole looked up at Rosita. “You really think she doesn’t hate me?”

“Of course she doesn’t. I know she doesn’t. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a crush on you.”

“ROSITA!!!!” 

“Coming! Ok my mom’s calling me. I better go before she catches me with you. She thinks you’re weird and a bad influence? HA! She has no idea.” and with that Rosita was gone.

_She might actually like me? Then why didn’t she come today? Why’d she break her promise? Shit, what if she's in danger! What if the castle’s under attack or something? What if her dad’s sick? Oh, no, her thumb! God it might have gotten infected. She’s probably at home sick and all alone!_

Pacing even faster in the alley, Nichole came to a decision, _That's it. Tonight, Falcon goes to the tower._

___________________________

Heading out of her house around 1AM, Nichole gathered her equipment and went to the haunted stables. Once Calamity was ready, Nichole was off, riding faster than she ever had. Rushing through bushes, over puddles, not caring what came in her way. 

In only thirty minutes, she was there, doing her usual routine of tying Calamity close to the pond, rushing to the castle wall and beginning to scale it. She perched on top and skimmed the area. Seeing no guards near, she ran along the top of the wall until she was near the tower. 

In only five minutes, she scaled eight stories, reaching the window and pulling herself up, sliding through it. It was dark, not even a candle lit. She looked around, seeing no one in the room. 

“Waverly? Waverly?” She whispered, nearing the bed. No one was there.

_Was she too late? Was Waverly shifted to a room downstairs? Was she ok?_

Nichole sat down on the bed, tearing up a bit. Wondering if she'd ever see Waverly again. She decided to leave. She didn’t feel like stealing anything from the room of someone as wonderful as Waverly. She didn’t want to accidently take something valuable. 

Getting up to leave, fixing up the area of the bed she was sitting on, Nichole was startled when she heard the closet door behind her shut. 

She turned, with her eyes close, hoping it wasn’t a guard or the king himself. 

“Falcon? Is that you?”

Nichole opened her eyes. It was Waverly, looking beautiful as always. She was wearing a white nightgown, holding a candelabra in her hand.

“Oh my god Waves! Thank god you’re okay! I was so worried about you?” Nichole blurted, without taking the time to think. _Shit. She knew she had said a little more than she was supposed to._

“Okay? Why wouldn’t I be? Why were you worried? And why’d you just call me Waves? Only Nichole does that.” 

_What was she gonna say...Nichole! that's it! ___

__“Oh..um…” Nichole began, “Nichole actually…..uh... sent me here. Yeah! She was worried because...because you didn’t show up like you promised. Wanted good old Falcon to come check on you to see if you were ok. Was worried your thumb injury got infected or something. That's all.”_ _

__Waverly looked at her, tilting her head a bit. Her eyes shining in the moonlight. “She sent you all the way here to check on me? Aww, she cares so much. Oh god!” She stomped her foot, “I wanted to come, really, I did! But my father insisted I stay because this douchebag named Champ was coming to see me. God I hate him, I really don’t see why father picked him as my suitor.”_ _

__“A su...suitor” Nichole stuttered, “You’re getting married?” She could feel her knees go weak. _Of course she was gonna marry a douche like Sir Champ. Everyone in the kingdom knew he was amazing, slaying a dragon or whatever he did. He was handsome, rich, famous. What else could Waverly want. How did she even imagine that they might actually be compatible. She had nothing to offer._ _ _

__“Over my dead body” Waverly interrupted Nichole’s thoughts. “I’d never marry someone like him.”_ _

__Okay, now Nichole was confused. “What do you mean?” Nichole asked, kinda curious about why Waverly would reject someone like him. “Isn’t he supposed to be amazing or something? Fighting dragons, saving princesses. He’s rich, handsome and I hear all the girls are obsessed with him, even the ones back in town.”_ _

__“Even Nichole?” Waverly asked. Nichole was not expecting a question like that. “Not that I care or anything. I just wanted to know so I...I could tell her how awful he was when I go back to town tomorrow”, she quickly finished, clearly a bit flustered._ _

__“Right…..” Nichole looked at Waverly, a bit confused._ _

__Before Nichole could answer, there was a knock on the door. _Shit._ Rushing to find a place for "Falcon" to hide, Waverly tripped, falling right on top of Nichole. _Shit, Shit._ The door swung open and a woman walked in, holding some fabrics. Her attention, clearly, still on the fabrics._ _

__“Waverly dear, sorry to bother you in the middle of the night, but I had to ask what fabric you wanted for your weddi…” Looking up, she stopped in her tracks. Nichole seeing the shock and fear in her eyes._ _

__*THUMP*_ _

__The woman fainted and fell on the floor. Right smack in the middle of the room._ _

__Nichole looked up at Waverly, who was looking directly back at her, into her eyes, the look of curiosity on her face._ _

__“Wait....why do I feel like this has happened before. You eyes….they look so….so familiar..” Panicked, Nichole started to get up, trying to ignore Waverly’s comment._ _

__Nichole rambled. “I should go. Get her some water and maybe explain to her what happened. She looks pretty trustworthy.” Turning around and walking towards the tower window, she felt a small hand touch hers._ _

__“Before you go” Waverly began, “Take this sack of goodies to give to the town. I know Nichole and you are friends but I don’t want you leaving empty handed. You deserve it.”_ _

__Nichole smiled and accepted the sack. “Thanks.” And with that, she jumped out of the window. Smiling. Knowing Waverly was ok and that she was coming tomorrow. She couldn’t wait._ _

_________________________________ _

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all liked it!


End file.
